Almost a decade now
for these pastures to return
to prairie although never
virgin again but peopled
with new generations
black eyed Susans,
purple prairie clover
white snakeroot, wild strawberries
this year we planted Jerusalem
artichokes to help restore
native flora, flagged Illinois
bundleflower’s cerise cousins
the sensitive briers blooming
for the first time, broadcast
coneflower seed ahead of
hot rain
St. John’s Wort and butterfly
milkweed have returned as well
sown by quail or bluebird, finch
or oriole and this week the blessing
of Big Bluestem that used to anchor
the primordial prairies with roots
ten feet deep begins to send
up its chestnut awns
once a Mandan Sioux woman
looked out from her soddy
onto the rolling Flint Hills and
saw what I see now but
little comfort for her great
distance from the longhouses
of her childhood
so for this great great grandmother
I celebrate and save these fragile links
that hold us together leaf and stem
pod and petal with their own elusive
fragrance borne on a five o clock
morning breeze whispering how
though passed through so many
generations it is still the land
that binds us gift of Mother Earth
the soil our native home