Flinders Field

Growing a field of wheat as it was in the nineteenth century

I'm sat here in my study a dream has come to me

To plough and sow a field of wheat as it used to be

Cornflowers with their blooms so blue were scattered all around

Wild flowers not seen here for years are springing from the ground

 

I'd bought this field in January, so barren and so bare

If I can bring it back to life to then support the Hare

The whole field looked so empty, no Mole hills could I see

That means a lack of earthworms, to do the job for me

 

Twelfth night has come and gone, Plough Monday comes around

It's far too cold to hitch the plough 'til Candlemas is crowned

I tell my wife in days gone by they knew the time had come

They'd drop their trousers to the ground and test it with their bum

 

When I was just a child so young my Father taught me how

To hitch the team in such a way for them the fields to plough

Shire horses Acer and Acorn were bred for such a day

To pull the plough 'til all is done and harrow then I pray

 

The day has come the wheat to sow by using the seed fiddle

Wildflower seeds I sow by hand by standing in the middle

Two weeks I leave 'til I come back to see what shoots are there

Green sprouts of wheat and wildflower and then I see the Hare

 

May blossom and Blackthorns bloom have fallen to the ground

Nests built in the hedgerow and nowhere else around

Goldfinch, Chaffinch and Song Thrush all have settled here

My field of wheat and wildflower has now attracted deer

 

Time moves on the wheat grows tall with flowers in between

By June the wheat's at sceptre stage with stalks of emerald green

The whole field has just come alive with Voles and Bees galore

Berries, Sloe and hedgerow fruits the Blackbirds winter store

 

A manuscript of stained glass blooms with toads amongst the stems

This barren field has come alive with Crickets, Flies and other gems

August sun brings harvest time to sheaf and stack and bind

Within this field the noise we make moves all that hide aside

 

The Mice and Hares move quickly on and all the Rabbits lay

They lay so still they're hard to see to frighten them away

I miss a few there on the ground the cutter kills them quickly

Jackdaw, Crow and Buzzards come and they devour them swiftly

 

I've ploughed my field I've grown my wheat I've let it turn to grass

My dream took time for it to grow and finally come to pass

Cornflowers with their blooms so blue are scattered all around

Wild flowers not seen here for years have sprung up from the ground