Nancy Scott
Time
It had been a long, bleak summer.
Rains came and flooded the valley.
The crops were ruined.
Not once had the poor man taken time
from ploughing or tending the sheep
to climb the moors and lie back in the sun.
His wife whiled away the best hours
of the day reading pamphlets
she borrowed from the preacher's wife.
She never complained but longed for
a holiday at the beach or a stroll
through the gardens at the manor house.
When they married, they didn't know
the path ahead; yet chose it willingly.
Life can feel like a very long time.
Bio
Nancy Scott is managing editor of U.S.1 Worksheets, the journal of the U.S.1 Poets' Cooperative in New Jersey. She is also the author of nine collections of poetry. Her most recent, Ah Men (Aldrich Press, 2016) is a retrospective of the men who have influenced her life. She is also a collage artists and exhibits her artwork and her poetry together. www.nancyscott.net