I know how it was in that time
sixty years ago when roads seen
from above were little more than
two thin tracks through grass.

My mind has heard the noiseless roads
cutting unfenced fields, passing cherry groves,
skirting steepest hills and flat lakes,
making settled burgs where roads cross.

I know how it was in that time
when many-handed harvests,  
sweet smells and back breaking work
were wrenched away without referendum.

Wrenched away by Ford's cast iron.
Wrenched away without option of staying
to enjoy the scale of day-long trips
on foot, in wagon or buggy.  

Our innocent grandfathers too,
wrenched away, not unwillingly, from plowfields,
to be told by newspaper and newfangled radio  
of the one-day Atlantic crossing.

I know how it was in that time.
I've seen it from three or five hundred feet;
the quick shadow and lake-mirrored
image of fabric covered wood and wire.

I've gently flown, pocketa, pocketa,
in that time; in a ship as much a product
of those shifting decades as of its tinkerer/
designer, builder, pilot, Pietenpol.

The church we visited
Today for pastor's round table
Was set like the scene
Of a Grant Wood painting.

The fields were stretched 
For miles upon miles,
The view enhanced 
By gently rolling hills.

The tin-roofed-and-sided church,
Once a barn, now renovated,
Sits in the middle of a farmers field.
A treasure once hidden, now found.

In that building we discussed
The move of God across
Our nation and our state,
Building unity amongst us, 

Those who till the earth 
And spread the seed,
Waiting for God to 
Bring the increase.

For as the rain falls
Down from the sky,
It waters the earth
And causes our seed

To sprout and produce fruit.
So we must be patient now,
Being faithful farmers waiting
For the seed we've sown 

To receive the nutrition 
It needs to spring forth
And yield the harvest 
We have always desired.

An idea hit me like a tornado....
If I were a superhero,
I guess I'd be like Robin Hood,
Always aiming to do good,
I'd grant everyone their wish,
Hand them blessings on a golden dish,
Health, wealth and happiness,
Grant the world a superhero bless,
I see wrongs and wish they were rights,
It's the world, won't get uptight,
This idea hit me like a  tornado,
Oh, if only I were a superhero.

I heard that I was in your eyes
but when I visit You
I am sure about that!
and Your smile makes the site brighten.

I once knew a man,
his name was Grant.
Grant had everything,
it was all in the palm of his hand,
until he threw it all away.
It wasn't for nothing,
it was for the only fatherly figure in his life,
it was for a girl,
and it was for what he thought was the best.
Once the girl found the truth,
she hated him.
The truth always hurts the most,
which lead her to wonder:
Grant, who are you, really?