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FENCES

Copyright©2000, Michael S. Robinson  

A fence is a border, constructed in order 

to keep things contained or outside.

It keeps cows from wand’rin’, dries laundry, post-laundrin',

and barbed ones leave scars on a hide.

A fence makes good neighbors and fosters behaviors ,

harmonious, kind, and benign .

It's a perch for a bird or a home for the herd

or an excellent spot for a vine.

A fence guards the melons, incarcerates felons,

keeps chickens from fleeing the coop.

It keeps your yard cleaner, makes neighborin' fields greener,

and it keeps your best steeds in a group.

There are fences of bricks.  There are fences of sticks.

There are ones made of wire and blocks.  

There are gates for your pards, and recessed cattle guards---

for security, latches and locks.

There are times you may say that a fence blocks the way

to that place you consider your goal,

and the only solution to get what you’re choosin’s

becoming a bird or a mole.

Fences high, fences low--they control where you go,

so it’s worth sprouting wings, you will find,

‘cause the only un-climbable fence, in a sense,

is the one you create in your mind.

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