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In the dead and dark of night Protected from the day’s sun Flowers blossom and Children with stinging eyes Strip bushes long before dawn At the mercy of insects And the pressure to work. Here lies the source of that fragrance Whose first steps in the chain Are unknown to others, those Others who crave to be part Of a world of shallow beauty. Those others who look with envy At the few strutting in the public eye Sharing in ceremonies of the rich Parading for profit, governed by greed. Here lies the secret of that scent: Fields of flowering trees The beginning of that long path To product and market. Here is the unadorned beginning Of a world with controlled images Of health and radiance. A world unknown to those At the outset, a beginning Peopled by faceless pickers. |
