This land

we till and over which we toil,

suffering as we do the curse of Adam

by the sweat of our brows to eat,

the price of a piece of fruit denied

and taken, toiling to the ends of our lives,

this land forgives, and gives us still what we need

to sustain us, mind and spirit and body.

It asks in return little, only

what it gives to us first and nothing more -

just ourselves and preservation, the fruits of our labor,

and kindness, in kind, sustenance enough to keep it,

too, sustained for the seasons that lie ahead.