The Harvesting

About this poem

While the poem is about harvesting, it becomes evident that what is being harvested is not wheat grain, but rather the inner self or spirit of a person. A ‘threshing floor’, in the sense that I refer to it in this poem, is a large circular area with a smooth surface where harvested wheat stocks are laid and then beaten, usually with a flail (a sort of whip), in order to draw out the grain. In order to draw out the grain thoroughly the hull (or husk) must be removed from it during the threshing process. All the leftover material and debris is called chaff and must be blown away from the wheat grain in a process called winnowing. Weevils are small beetles that wreak havoc on wheat stocks and stored grain. more »