Sunflowers

I was driving down the road the other day and we passed a massive field of sunflowers. The strange thing was that every single sunflower was facing away from the sun. I mean, they were facing the exact opposite direction. This is the product of that:

Sit here on the bench and please let me tell
Of a land you just may have seen
I’ll describe it, see if it rings a bell
If both of your ears are quite keen

Most things in this land are somewhat quite strange
With oddities much more than one.
The oddest through the land’s entire range:
Sunflowers face away from the sun.

And though this is one of the strangest things
It isn’t just one of a kind.
For flightless birds with big wonderful wings
Should also be blowing your mind.

Sheep and wolves graze together on a hill
And share their friendly intercourse.
And though sometimes a wolf a sheep may kill
The sheep will never change their course.

‘Tis odd enough that they do not bother
When the wolves devour their kind
But odder still, sheep eat their own brother
When green grass proves too hard to find.

Many springs flow there, both crystal and clear,
Always constant flow maintaining.
But to the springs no one ever goes near
Cisterns prove more entertaining.

In wide open fields some crops are still sown
Of thistles and dandelions.
They shoot up quite fast, and when they’re full grown
Are eaten with rocks and pylons.

All these things and more you’ve seen in this land
In words and in deeds and in song.
And one true thing is as clear as your hand:
This land cannot will not last long.

If you have seen this land that is dying
Perhaps you have asked yourself, “Why?
Why are there weeds and birds that aren’t flying?
And wolves and treacherous sheep nigh?”

The answer is plain, though it’s hard to grasp
I said it after stanza one.
The reason for troubles that make you gasp
Is sunflowers facing from sun.

The seeds of a sunflower in this strange place
Are the healing of the nation
If the sunflowers would only turn their face
To the sun who made creation.

It is hard to turn, yes that much is true.
It’s hard for them to change their ways.
But if they won’t drink the sun and the dew
Be scared: This world will be erased.

For what’s the use of a non-flying bird,
Or weeds and thistles in the ground?
Or sheep that tolerate wolves in the herd
Or sunflowers who love to face down?

So here is the charge, come from the mountain:
To two great evils do we turn.
We’ve left the sun – our almighty fountain
For our broken, poisoned cistern.