posted
Yeah, It's only sage-brush, But to me it's as sweet as myrrh That David gathered In the Ancient East.
I've seen sage at dawn Like gray-green blankets Spread upon the knees Of countless sleeping hills. I've seen the magic sun Shoot his gilded arrows Throught the velvet leaves Of desert green, and then, Miracle of miracles! I have seen the billowing blankets Of soft and soothing green Become a quivering sea Of racing color!
I've seen sage-brush Piled carelessly on flickering fires Whose vine-like wreathes of smoke Have twined among the stars As desert incense Filled the lambent air And made the darkling hills Appear as altars To the grim and sombre gods.
I have drunk sage-tea And frequently its healing properties Have eased the pain of sprains and gashes Registered upon my body By the hard and unrelenting battle That was waged to clear a space Where grain might shine Like golden islands In a never-ending sea.
And then I have seen sage- Fragrant, friendly sage, Group round the little head-boards That announce the resting place Of those who could not stand the shock Of endless, bitter battle, And who, like heroes of the frontiers, Lay down to nightly dreams Upon some sage-drenched knoll Where morning ever seems the harbinger Of changeless, ever changing life.
And so- I love sage-brush! And all the valleys love it, Because, like foil around our precious heirlooms, It preserves for them-and us- The very fragrance of life's high romance.
H.R. Merrill
This is for Annie and speaks to my forum name. There is no copywrite or electronic copy to link to on the Net. (They even tore down Merrill Hall last year.) So, I had to type it all.
Posts: 1167 | Registered: Oct 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
It was the old Library building at Utah State University, in Logan. Harrison Merrill was my Dad's favorite professor there, back in the late 30's.
Posts: 1167 | Registered: Oct 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Question1 What is the SCA? The only one I know is Service Contract Act. And, yes I do administer an SCA Contract.
Posts: 1167 | Registered: Oct 2005
| IP: Logged |
I thought you might be since your profile says you're interested in History, plus "Artemisia" is the name of the Kingdom that Utah is a part of. I got into it when I joined BYU's medieval club
Posts: 4089 | Registered: Apr 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Nope, the only history I reenact is when I pretend to brush my hair in the morning. Artemisia is the student literary magazine at the University of Nevada too. I thought the BYU medieval club was the young republicans.
Posts: 1167 | Registered: Oct 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I grew up in SE Idaho and moved away just before my 19th birthday. It was about 7 years later that I returned to Idaho in mid-summer as part of a summer marching band tour. When I stepped out into the Idaho air, the scent of sagebrush was so filled with nostalgia for 'home' that I gasped in surprise.
Isn't it amazing how powerful smell can be as an aid in recollecting our past?
Posts: 1099 | Registered: Apr 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Number 2 Daughter lived for several years in Paraguay. She had access to a plastic trash bag containing a dried sage brush. She resorted to it whenever she needed a fix from home. I remember a similar rush, landing in Grand Junction CO after four years of Deep South Alabama.
Posts: 1167 | Registered: Oct 2005
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
