Brian Baumgarn Poet Free verse

Old Homestead

seen from the highway traversing
   backroads in central south dakota
the framework of an old homestead
   a carapace more than a structure
in the  distance gnarled limbs held
rusted barbed wire in place as fence
scant distance from the homestead's
   weathered shell still standing proud
a decades old Aermotor windmill.

it filled a galvanized tank guarding
   life giving water for far grazing cattle
golden crisp prairie grasses spread
   far as an eye could survey
weathered bond of the homestead's 
   walls stood--relics of another age
hardened and annealed from
   daily immersion in plains weather
noble despite capitulating to time.

in the minds eye he sees the windmill
   at Little Reata from the movie "Giant"
as light faded welcoming the dusk he could see
   the youthful Jett Rink climbing its ladder
rising to gain the platform-then squatting
   to survey his empty land
the silhouette of Jett's sharp-cut features
   visualized more than open grassland
Jett envisioned an empire. the visitor kept
   mementos of a unique bygone era.

                                old homestead
                                9-29-16

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