• Author: Davis, Samuel
• Editor: B-7413
• Newspaper: The Umpire volume V
• Page Number:
• Date: 2 13 1918
• Tags:
• poetry

THE GLEANER

I watched the gleaners rake the field, After the ripening sheaves were stored, Toiling the while in the noonday sun, As they garnered their meager hoard.

And when they called on the autumn winds To help them winnow the golden wheat, The chaff went out to be scattered wide, While the grain fell at their feet.

I wandered over the field of life, Following after a harvest done, While in the stubble I sought for friends, And gathered them one by one.

And after the crowding autumn years The field of friendship I culled once more; And as I measured the winnowed grain, I grieved at the scanty store.

The winds of adversity swept the chaff; And as it littered the desert sand, I gathered the Wheat from about my feet, And held it all in my hollowed hand.

—Samuel Davis.