Damnable Convenience - Michael James

I am the big wind, I scatter all before,

Blow dust into the neighbor’s eye,

Skid leaves under his door.

The noise I make when I blow full force,

Will deafen some, too bad of course.

Gardeners love the work I do,

And if old folks grumble,

I’ll blow them too.

My din fills ears, fumes sear the nose,

With those who use me, anything goes.

I own the air of little towns,

Darling in fact of gardening clowns,

The “Mow and Blow” boys of backyard fame,

Who cannot give my work a name, 

All love me, wear me, come what may,

Will hope to use me every day.

If you don’t like me, go complain,

You won’t get far, I’m not to blame.

It’s you stuck far back in the past,

When silence was a thing to last.

Look not for it here or anywhere,

In backyards, out beneath the star.

Not now, for here there’s no one cares,

What row I make, what ugly stares

From old man Giles who hides his ears,

And keeps the dust from off his cars.

 

Oh how they fly, those Autumn leaves,

Urged up and onward in my breeze,

To escape the dry, hot wind below

Bright reds and yellows--all my show!