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Vance Oliphant

Farmstead

Just down the road.....around the bend,
Lies a lonesome old farmstead; it'suseful life at an end.
The barn roof leaks badly; the windowsare gone;
It once seethed with activity at the crackof dawn.
There were cows to milk and horses tofeed,
Before tilling the soil and planting theseed.
The corn crib looks shabby and the binswon't hold grain;
They won't be asked to do so, ever again.
The remaining out buildings are indisrepair,
And the house is definitely the worse forwear.
The porch railing is broken; front door'sopen wide,
And it is probably not safe to wanderinside.
The party line telephone no longer hangson the wall,
But the neighbors once eavesdropped onevery call.
Weeds grow high in the yard and sometrees are dead;
Nearly hidden among them, is a brokendown shed.
The farms were once smaller and mostwouldn't survive.
Where there is now one, there wereprobably five.
Those abandoned farmsteads havebecome a trend,
Just down the road.....around the bend.