Sunday, November 22, 2009

Original posting date of December 9th, 2008.

Summer clover hay has a unique smell. Sweet, sometimes musty, but the presence of the air filled with clover is a sure sign that work has been done here. Family farms hold tradition, pride of ownership and loyalty as a road map for all of us to follow. Whether you hail from Europe, Asia, down under, or America...the smell of clover hay in the summer immediately takes you out of the six lane and transports you Shangrila - the land of eternal youth in "The Lost Horizon".

8 comments:

Sacha van Straten said...

I think it's easy to miss how hard it is to make the mundane seem poetically beautiful. Somehow, you make that skill look easy.

The OMW challenge today is to write about an online friend you haven't met. So, I've written a poem about you, Don, and Laura Jayne. Here it is:

Dan lives
In a 19th state of mind.
Perhaps he is a Hoosier?
He captures life through lenses,
He is a magician of light,
A conjuror of the ether.
He writes me often and we
Talk only in words that never are spoken.

Don makes dreams
Out of every day chores.
He lifts up the needy,
Gives children hope in the face of calamity.
He is a man of faith, a man of God,
A man of conviction.
He philosophizes on the small stuff
So he can understand the bigger picture.
His words can seem like riddles
Which can only mean
I'm not thinking hard enough.

Laura Jayne transforms
My thoughts into actions,
My ideas into verse.
If the gods of ancient Greece
Were alive today
In the minds of men,
She'd be one of their virtual muses.
Her online presence
Is a temple to the arts,
Where good minds meet
To make the remarkable happen.

The web link is here: http://oneminutewriter.blogspot.com/2008/12/todays-writing-prompt-online.html

All the best,

Sacha

Heather said...

This is beautiful! Living in prime farm country (VT), this photo invites me in. I want to walk the path to visit the cows. My hubby farmed for a few years, it felt like true country living in it's purest form when we were living on the farm.

Once again...love the photo.

Dan Felstead said...

WOW! Thanks Sacha!! I have never been the subject of a poem before! Thank you very much. Your skills with words amaze me especially with poetry....(something I am horrible at!). I am sure all three of us are scrambling to select and copy so we can paste it into Word for backup.
Thank you,
Dan

Dan Felstead said...

Heather,
You had mentioned in another post about the cold weather and I wondered where you were from. I have a college roommate that lived for years in Raymond Vermont if you know where that is. I have never been to Vermont but from descriptions of it, I am sure i would fall in love with the countryside.
Thanks,

Dan

Sunny said...

For the life of me, I don't know how I managed to miss this picture. It's absolutely wonderful. The beautiful barns, and the moody sky. It's really stunning.
Sunny :)

dianne said...

I love the whole scene Dan, the worn path with grasses at the side draws you into the barn and you want to look beyond, that sky is amazing too.
Amazing photo of farming country. ♥

Dan Felstead said...

Thank you Sunny...I always liked this picture as well...you get two barns for the price of one!

Dan

Dan Felstead said...

Thanks Dianne...it was the scent of the clover hay that drew me to the scene.

Dan