Classic Poem

A summer under open skies,
A child—a thousand children,
A burning sun, cold rains
—And sugar beets.
A summer working sugar beets,
And youth—youth pulled and topped
And plowed beneath the soil
—As fertilizer.
Youth pulled and topped, and granulated,
And weighed—weighed out in bags
For us to buy, and please
Our tooth for sweets.
A summer under open skies,
A child—a future forming;
No schooling to distract
From sugar beets.