<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="5">What We Reap<o:p></o:p></font></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><font size="5"> </font></p><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="5">It’s harvest in the orchard across the street.<o:p></o:p></font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="5">A multitude of voices calling out<o:p></o:p></font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="5">laughing with each other, the thud<o:p></o:p></font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="5">of apples into buckets and<o:p></o:p></font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="5">singing – oh the sweet</font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font color="#000000" size="5">joyful song of harvest .</font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="5">And I can’t help but<o:p></o:p></font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="5">imagine those voices<o:p></o:p></font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="5">banished or imprisoned.<o:p></o:p></font></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><font size="5"> </font></p><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="5">First rain last night<o:p></o:p></font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="5">and the morning unseasonably <o:p></o:p></font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="5">cool, lightens the labor.<o:p></o:p></font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="5">Now they move <o:p></o:p></font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="5">deeper into the orchard.<o:p></o:p></font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="5">The voices and the thudding<o:p></o:p></font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="5">apples fading.<o:p></o:p></font></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><font size="5"> </font></p><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="5">I am crying now<o:p></o:p></font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="5">for a nation buried<o:p></o:p></font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="5">in shame, unwilling<o:p></o:p></font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="5">to face or make amends<o:p></o:p></font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="5">for the past. Instead,<o:p></o:p></font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="5">adding fresh and brutal crimes<o:p></o:p></font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="5">to the national debt.</font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="5"><br></font></div><div style="margin: 0in;"><font size="5"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- Kay Crista</font></div></div></body></html>