Dakota Plains
Silver webs covered
the sea of grass,
Warp and weft
over verdant waves,
Unto two-and-thirty points
in ten directions,
Mile after mile
across mountless plain.
Elk strode the pampas
with antlers aloft;
Bison plodded
like boulders rolling.
Bulrush sloughs
full of blackbirds and butterflies,Â
Waves of grain
as wide as the horizons;
Golden miles
and gleaming greenery,
Rolling hectares
like ripples in the earth.
Not a hill, not a tree,
between Heaven and Earth;
Flat land lay
under fiery sky.
From dawn to dusk
was dazzling brightness;
From set to rise
was a sea of stars.
Atmosphere shone
over endless fields;
Golden grain waved
under gleaming airs.