Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Leanin' but not Fallen


"She never seemed sickly, just brain tired."
From
The Star Garden
A Novel of Sarah Agnes Prine
by
Nancy E. Turner

This sentence "spoke" to me last night
as I substituted bad TV for a good book

The main character of the book is speaking of her Mother
Based on a real-live-person
An Arizona pioneer who settled in the Southern part of the Arizona Territory in the late 1800's
She had fought off
Indians
Mexicans
Wild fires
Starvation
Heat
Drought
Snakes
Scorpions
Death 
And only God knows what else

As we bitch to high heaven when the power goes out
In the Southern Arizona desert
And air conditioners cease to comfort
I will think of this lady of the desert
How she stood eye-to-eye with the Southern Arizona 
Indians
Mexicans
Wild fires
Starvation
Heat
Drought
Snakes
Scorpions
Death
And only God knows what else
Spit in their eye
And just kept living

Until she was brain-tired
Then it just didn't matter any more

The picture above was taken in Nebraska a few years ago
On an abondon farm
About a mile from where I grew up

She never seemed sickly, just brain-tired
Applies to pioneers world-wide

Prairies
Desert

Makes no difference
It's the stuff we're all made of
If we reach deep inside
And touch that which makes us strong
Until we're brain-tired
Then it just doesn't matter

 
 

3 comments:

  1. Well said Beck...gonna' be first in line...for your book...along the trails of livin'...just thinkin'...thanks for sharing...;-)

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  2. Well said, and great pic. I was pondering the water pump out front. It looks almost new. What an interesting contrast to the building. dkm

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