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.