Yield!

There was dis-ease throughout the barnyard
Everyone wanted more spinach & meat
“Yield! Yield!” cried the townsfolk.
“When pigs fly!” the farmer replied.

But he gave in anyway

So the swine flu overhead
and flooded the engine ears of corn
Which made a mad cow stomp & foam
from its hooves & mouth

Then a bird flu over the coop
and flocks of chicken pox
broke out of the henhouse
Their eggs all stolen
by an Asian weasel
with the German measles

Who ran down to the river
full of salmonella
Swimming & splashing
onto the roots of the beans

Which were closest to the patch
of potato tuberculosis
Growing in the freshly-sprayed soil
enriched with beta-quarantine

But none of this plagued
the people’s dreams
As they brandished pitchforks & spoons
demanding from their growling guts
“Yield! Yield!”
“Yield!”