Phil Dent comments: 'The poem is one of exhortation and encouragement, to "work well" and await our Sabbath-rest'. 'Sabbath Poem X takes on the familiar images of the agricultural lifecycle, and applies them to our – or indeed God’s - other endeavours. The process described involves not only our labour plus the maturation of time and the seasons, but other benevolences and fruits, too. For example, that ‘the field is tilled / And left to grace’ indicates a clear delineation of human and divine roles and responsibilities, repeated by the sentiment that ‘great work is done while we’re asleep’. Sketch by Kip Crooks.