HARVEST HYMN BY JOHN BETJEMAN

Harvest Hymn by John Betjeman

Harvest Hymn by John Betjeman

Getting Started 

List the things that we get from Nature. What do we give in return? 

What is likely to happen if there is no land to cultivate in the future? 

We spray the fields and scatter 

The poison on the ground 

So that no wicked wild flowers 

Upon our farm be found. 

We like whatever helps us 

To line our purse with pence; 

The twenty-four-hour broiler-house 

And neat electric fence. 

All concrete sheds around us 

And Jaguars in the yard, 

The telly lounge and deep-freeze 

Are ours from working hard. 

We fire the fields for harvest, 

The hedges swell the flame, 

The oak trees and the cottages 

From which our fathers came. 

We give no compensation, 

The earth is ours today, 

And if we lose on arable, 

The bungalows will pay.