The fragrance of the grass speaks to me
and my heart soars
Chief Dan George
I live in California now, so spring does not mean quite what it did back East
It pretty much always looks this way
I am not complaining but
Back East, the coming of Spring meant something
Like going barefoot
Buttercups and dandelions
And my dad mowing the grass
I still cannot smell newly mowed grass without thinking of him with his old U S Navy ballcap
and a look of complete concentration as he made those rows perfect
My Dad was a renowned scientist, but this was where he put his heart -
in to his home and to his yard and in to his family.
Because we were a military family, we moved often
But Dad always made our yard special
Walt Whitman said:
I believe a leaf of grass is no less then the journey work of the stars
Dad agreed
and so do I
and that's poetiquejustis
The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field
Psalm 103:15
