I couldn’t see the tops of the corn until I got to the rise
of this hill. The stalks, suddenly gone from green to tan,
are taller than my car now, almost ready for harvest.
I get to drive this smooth, curving road every Wednesday,
and I confess it’s a highlight of my week, year ’round.
But today, the first day of sun after many days of rain,
it thrills me. Just yesterday, it seems, I was a flea
on the hide of a sleeping elephant as I drove between
stubbly mounds of rutted, muddy gray. And now,
look what this land has done! All those green shoots that rose
from that elephant’s hide in spring have turned into corn!
I feel rich, as I breathe in the late September air,
a flea become a king.