Just when you thought I was done featuring snow and cold, switching for the next seven months to strictly sunshine and flowers and bunnies... April Fools!
Actually, the following poem by Walt McDonald, discovered a few posts ago, inspired me to roll out a favourite winter scene that illustrates the words quite well. (And when I took this photo, the weather was precisely as described!) I just couldn't store this verbal loveliness away until next winter. Whether or not you've ever lived on a farm, enjoy.
Hammering Ice to Slush
by Walt McDonald
Wind flings snow over stalks like cobblestones.
Cattle wait out the storm in windbreaks
far from barns. They know when it’s over
we’ll drive out on tractors, hauling hay
and hard alfalfa pellets. They fear no evil,
since every dawn we come and hammer ice to slush.
Nights, we rock in the dark and watch for stars.
Children we raised are safe in cities lit
by a billion kilowatts. We know spring runoff
will water summer’s hay, we’ll own the ranch
someday, if luck and hard work save us, if God’s
still in his heaven, if we’re still on the earth.
Read more by this poet here.
