Loving the Land
©2015 Susan Noyes Anderson
Photo by Kristyn Lapp on Unsplash
Their roots were in the land;
the land was everything.
The old ones took a stand,
inured to suffering.
Hard work was what they knew,
hard work and sturdy hearts.
They held God in their view,
gave Him their sacred parts.
He came by storm and flood,
breathed wind and uttered rain.
He smiled in sun-warmed crops,
frowned droughts of wasted grain.
Like Job, they persevered
and counted blessings twice.
The land was theirs, revered,
worth any sacrifice.
∞§∞
“The land is the only thing in the world that amounts to anything, for it’s the only thing in the world that lasts…It’s the only thing worth working for, worth fighting for––worth dying for…” – Margaret Mitchell
“The land gets inside of us; and we must decide one way or another what this means, what we will do about it.” – Barry Lopez
“Geography blended with time equals destiny.” – Joseph Brodsky
“Harmony with the land is like harmony with a friend…It is inconceivable to me that an ethical relation to land can exist without love, respect, and admiration for the land, and a high regard for its value. By value, I of course mean something far broader than mere economic value; I mean value in the philosophical sense.” – Aldo Leopold
“….with each stroke [of the axe] he is writing his signature on the face of the land.” – Aldo Leopold
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Tags: adversity, ancestry, family, farmers, farming, gratitude, heritage, home, legacy, life, nature, thanksgiving