Grain Harvest

(Grain Harvest by Pieter Bruegel the Elder)

Pieter Bruegel, or Breughel, the Elder (1529?-1569) was an artist from the Netherlands who painted landscapes of rural and village life with great detail and a touch of satire. His son and his grandson, both also called Pieter, followed in his footsteps.

This poem is one of ten that William Carlos Williams wrote about Bruegel the Elder’s paintings.

THE CORN HARVEST

Summer!
the painting is organized
about a young

reaper enjoying his
noonday rest
completely

relaxed
from his morning labors
sprawled

in fact sleeping
unbuttoned
on his back

the women
have brought him his lunch
perhaps

a spot of wine
they gather gossiping
under a tree

whose shade
carelessly
he does not share the

resting
center of
their workday world

~ William Carlos Williams (1883-1963), American poet and practicing physician