FALL ON THE HIGH PLAINS

Photo by Betty Bynum

    

                  Fall on The High Plains

                      by Billy Gilbreath

The anxious moments of waiting are over 

Stepping outside in the early morning today

The fog reminded me of the poem now forgotten

Something to the effect that it arrives like kitty feet

Was  it yesterday that we endured  the temperature

The smell from the nearby feedlots was absent

Only the refreshing aroma of the clean air present

Reports from the   morning  farm and ranch news

Indicates the beginning of the harvest of the fields

Awaiting the end of the maturity and beginning

Replaced by the cotton sacks, the huge machines 

No longer the many migrants arriving for gathering

Ranchers seemed pleased because of the moisture

Needed to relieve the concern of a possible drought

The green winter grass replaces those large rolls

Those young offspring are in shape for winter

                             Fall 

Returning from the morning walk in the neighborhood

Looking up on the ledge of the entrance a surprise

Those little fellows, three fledges and parents

Decided that the time had arrived to move out

That long trip to points unknown still a mystery

Going there and yet knowing how to return

                    Fall has Arrived

Did I hear something of a familiar  honking sound

Yes, their built- in GPS gave them the right path

Seems that their home for a few short months

The playa ponds, the fields of plenty, the weather

The friendly people causes their yearly return

                           Fall is Here

The green color of the leaves is gradually changing

Acorns falling all around  pleasing to the squirrels

As they are hastily digging and burying for winter

Some say, the old-timers , indicates a severe winter

                           Enjoying Fall

Yet at the time of  expressing my feelings

Me wonders, the many mysteries of nature,

The turning of the planets, the migration of birds

The maturation of the acorns, the cotton bolls,

Even the three fledges of my nighttime observation

And the assurance that all are all in their places

                    Thanks to the Creator

                            For mysteries

“Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror;                     

Then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part;                       

Then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. “

                            1 Corinthians 13:12

By Billy Gilbreath, guest writer

FOR MIL’S, 11/6/19

                            

THE MOST GLORIOUS COIN EVER MINTED

(Ole Ed, a long-time friend aged 80
came by last week, bringing his
little collection of Walking Liberty
fifty-cent coins. "I'm here as I promised
you," he said.)

These marvelous coins made my heart

beat faster...as when singing "The Star-

Spangled Banner," "America the Beautiful,"

"God Bless America," or "From the Halls

of Montezuma..,"

"I've got to get a photo," I said as we 

sipped on our Diet Pepsis and I 

handled each coin, over and over. "Who

knows their history? Something wore

'em down."

They were the coins of WWII. My 

childhood! The rewards of many hot

hours of mowing lawns, delivering

Ward's circulars, laundry work!

The barely-readable dates on each

coin told it all: 1937, 1939, 1941,1942,

1943, 1944, and 1945. A CCC boy

might  have spent that one in the

thirties; a Marine could have charged

the Tarawa beach carrying that one!

Eugene Sledge could have had that

one in his fatigues at Okinawa.

Why, that Walking Liberty 50 cent 

piece might have been my pay for

that hard lawn and trimming up there

on Thornton. Wasn't it de facto the

minimum wage of the day, if you were 

lucky? (No, some folks made only

20 cents an hour.)

No little kid of that time likely ever had

seven of those coins at once, jingling 

in his overalls. Maybe two...but

doubtful. One would buy a ten

cent movie ticket on Saturday afternoons

at the Lyceum, with ten cent popcorn--

and later a ham salad san over at Wool-

worth's @ 20 cents. Or a balsa wood

model P-51!

Ah, isn't it too bad that many "Americans"

don't have a clue as to what our country

has endured. It almost makes one weep.

But all should see and say:

     "Oh what a Glorious Coin!"

"May God Bless America,

    land that I love!"

--------

MIL

31 OCTOBER 2019