Mom

Turn the name, upside down,
and it is, of course, rightfully so:
WOW!
 
She carries us, in part,
as an egg.
Waiting
A funny fish attaches
and human is created afresh
Each and every single one
different
 
And so we grow
hidden away
protected and nourished
precisely
and grow
and grow
until
some fateful day
it’s time
 
Hosanna!
A tiny human emerges
sucks in air and breathes
then sucks in food
from mom

Held and nurtured
in every way
mom and child together
 
Up on two little legs
junior hangs on to…mom’s leg
hides behind…mom’s leg
Little arms reach for the sky
and mom picks him or her up
 
Oh, do they ever…
play ‘pick up’! 
 
Two days later
it’s ‘Pick up from school!’
 
Two days more,
and she watches
junior at the wheel
driving off to college
 
And a thousand prayers later
she watches
junior drive off…to a honeymoon
 
Wow!  Mom!  Grandma!
 
Selah 9/2014
Great is Thy Faithfulness
 

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The  American Farmer…Today

I know them.
Individuals, couples, teams.
I watch them, study them
with fascination and respect
 
Indeed there are rich soils
that mother them, father them
Sustain them,
keep them going
 
Most of them
just do their jobs
quietly, not in the newspapers
and not on tv
But
 
The teams they create
the contributions that are made
are truly amazing
 
Food is taken for granted here
the luxuries of meat prevail
beef, pork, chicken and turkey
fill grocery coolers…always
taken for granted
 
One farmer feeds himself or herself
and sets free 152 others
to use their gifts, find their niches
mostly in our cities
 
Nearly every local farmer
has a mate for life
together they are teams
side by side at church and meetings
side by side along life’s highways
 
In and out the driveways
salespersons of every ilk come and go
some delivering fuel, machinery, plant foods and more
I count some 80 team mates and more
lawyers, doctors, nurses
technicians of every sort
educators, past and continuing
I can see all their faces

Then there’s the neighbors
every team of them exceptional!
A farmer wears a lot of hats!
They volunteer, serve without pay
in a myriad of ways
making this whole thing tick
 
It starts and ends with the soil
Beginning with Adam, the rest of us are born
to study and work the soil, mother earth giving
Father earth stern with consequences
we grow our food for our seasons
then return to the soil
becoming a part of it
 
Haven’t we always been
aren’t we always now
a part of the soil
married in ways we are just now learning
The bacteria that live in us, that live in the soils
play their parts in living soil, in living beings
 
Yet we are more, as
we think and can learn
and ponder higher things
Creation constantly unfolds
revealing a Creator
 
From around the world
a stream of people come
to study us
Why do we have abundance
while so many live hungry?
 
The American farmer
lives the answers.
Come watch with me….
 
Lin, post harvest, 2014

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Friends

More than a brother and a sister
they come to share
burdens and joys
and their hands
 
They lift and carry
cook and drive
working with us side by side
Two by fours
 
Building
with those basic parts
something more, better, more quickly
 
This week two million pounds of corn
harvested, transported
Early morning coffee, breakfast
lunches brought to the fields
dinners late together
around the family table

Ah, it can be good,
when friends work together
two twos becoming four
 
Well done!
Congratulations!
You did it!
 
Enjoy the rain rest!
 
Lin, Harvest 2014, Lin and Kay, Bruce and Linda

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At Ease

Welcome words
to the soldier standing in line
He showed up early, early, early, for formation
Drill Instructor fudged for early
Shavetail lieutenant fudged for early
and our recruit was being cautious!
 
So there he was
standing in formation
spit spot all shined
waiting, waiting, waiting
 
Company, TEN HUT!!!
Inspection
Eyes forward, don’t move!
“Sir!  Yes Sir!”
 
Finally, “Company!  At Ease!
Breathe.
 
Springtime, early morning dark
farmers are stirring
birds are chirping pre dawn
Out of bed, out the house,
shed doors roll open
Engines come to life
deep toned diesels throbbing
almost like horses pawing, anxious
for inspection
 
Put ‘er in gear
pull back on the throttle
Roll, baby roll!
 
The smell of fresh stirred earth
the sun warming the soil
seeds dropping into soft, moist sanctuary
Back and forth, fill the planter
back and forth all day
Sun going down
lights on
back and forth

Seeds sprout quickly
shoots poke through the surface
like swimmers bursting from the deep
leaves unfold and stretch to the sun
growing like crazy, happy
 
A giant switch somewhere
stops the growth, cries ‘It’s finished”
and a crop is ready for harvest
 
Once again, early morning
farmers hit the roads
fields offer up their bounty
grain pours into harvesters
into trucks
into trains
into ships
and then
 
“At Ease” comes to the fields
and to the farmers
 
Corn stubble, bean stubble
stand like sharpened sticks
with carpeting of leaves comforting the soil
 
The farmer and his fields settle down
a farm cat snuggles its nose into his arm
in the home, a little one tucks her soft face
into her daddy’s neck
mama smiles, knowing
 
All is well, all is well….
 
Lin, at ease, post harvest 2014

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October 2012

“Where has October gone”?
asked a friend in agriculture.
“It’s been graced with sprinkles,
laced with showers again and again.
Cold weather, warm weather,
hurry then wait
while crops and soils dry out.”

The raindrops bind the harvesters
keeping them in their pens
their masters under roofs
Desk work and meetings often the fare
when normally they’d be in the fields
But even with the interruptions
some farmers are ‘getting done’.

Translated that means harvest completed,
as a farmer’s work
like that of a homemaker
is never done!
They just move on to the next task!
Seasons blending into years
for crops and people alike.

Individual initiative is inspiring
as the farmers roll with the punches:
combining soybeans in a pond!
Our new machines with giant tires
can smooth across the soil
so different from long ago.

December 7, 1941
Dad and grandpa were harvesting soybeans
or trying their best to!
A tractor pulled a combine
both were getting stuck
so another tractor and a chain hooked on
all wheels churning, struggling on.
December 1966
Step dad and I and a new combine
self propelled now, no tractor pulling,
would get stuck, back out, and try again
a different spot
Mercy! What ruts the wheels dug out!

October 2012
Smooth purring giant combines
sailed along on wet soils
even going through some water
no stopping, charging on
to harvest complete!

Wonderful machines!
Great progress!
The weather’s still a challenge,
but we are gaining!
We are gaining!
Designers and engineers,
factory workers and local dealers
an economy that makes it work
with the farmers, all in harmony,
doing it better…every year!

Selah, Lin 2012

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Sunday on Monday

Agreed we can’t live on and in the Sabbath!
Sunday is a special day, for certain sure,
with soaking in Words of the ages
wisdom for all ages
and remembrance, precious,
of one who died for us, for me
 
So we come to Monday!
How can we have a bit, still, of Sunday,
as we trudge through the week.
Nasty deeds, nasty words
swirl around us
sometimes become the slangs and arrows
that injure us, hurt us.
 
Brothers and sisters can help us
maybe it’s at breakfast,
when a brother asks:
“Would you pray?”
and the food gets blessed
and so do we
so do I

Both arrows and comforts fly
and we ourselves can send them
A smile of thanks
a pause, a look,
a timely word
can help us on our way
Monday and every day
we’re built that way
 
So the Wise One spoke
teaching his fellows (and us)
to pray in  this manner,
recognizing who we are
and who He is
and He was here, in the beginning
creating the world from chaos
 
Selah, Wednesday, day after election, November 2014

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Fixed Right

Sometimes things don’t work
presenting a great adventure!
Jump on the problem!
Be a grizzly bear!
make it right right now!
 
Sometimes that doesn’t work!
Try, and try again
and still it’s just not right
and you know it
 
On the phone again
and again
try this, try that
think
 
Along comes a fella
a thinker type
He studies the problem
reads the problem
Gets inside it, with fresh eyes
 
‘I think it’s ______,” says he.
Order parts, wait.
Parts come in, put ’em on.
Voila!

Fixed right!
What a bit of happiness!
Sail along freely
Machine humming, farmer humming
“Oh what a beautiful morning!”
 
On through the day
on into night
good lights shining brightly
neighbors out too
Ah, flashers galore going down the road
Somebody’s heading for the barn
Careful!  Slow moving vehicle
Big, wide and long
 
Great to be a farmer!  One more round towards victory! Lin
 
 
Selah, harvest, 2014

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Corn King and Queen

A fascinating plant
Maize, or corn
 
The tassel high on top
in its time throwing pollen
Light but loaded, floating down to…
Just in time the silks
Little tubes in waiting
each to carry a single pollen grain
in to a special place
an egg in waiting
The two become one, and a kernal is born
Anchored just so, to a life sustaining spot
Protected very well in a hidden place
beneath blankets called shucks
 
500 kernals grow
each one loaded with genes
each gene a particular, specific fellow
with work to do, in a team
 
Maybe the tassel is the kingly crown
but it wouldn’t be much
without the ear, the queen!
Together they really are something
From one colonel, er, kernal,
and one egg, a queen
500 children of mom and dad!

Whew!
Think about that!
And the tiny mustard seed
that grows into a small tree!
 
Now think about the super ‘weeds’
that throw off 600,000 to a million seeds!
Secrets to unlock!
What are we waiting for?
Prepare, study, learn, discover!
 
We know so much
We know so little
And we get too soon old
and too late smart!
 
Smile…
and think about it
Think about a sunrise, a sunset
and offer praise
to the Creator
 
Selah, Lin, Harvest 2014

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Enormity

Rain rest election day 2014
I’m on it.
Judges sit in a row
My name is on the scroll
In the book of life political
I’m in!

Two pages of issues
Candidates
4 billion spent
Gone
Darken the circle
Darken the doors
Be there

I show up once
Winners show up for years
2,4,6,8
Who will we appreciate
For jobs done well?

Around the world
It’s not done this way
The right to vote’s
Been written in blood
The ability to choose
Is ours

The enormity staggers me.
I make my marks
So the candidates can make theirs…

Selah Lin “I voted!” 2014

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Grand Grace

Dark plus 2
I walked to my nearby truck
the prairie was quiet
after a day of roaring harvest machines
 
The sky was bright with stars
more than I could ever count
what a display of span
so grand I stood held fast
 
I was standing on the soil
in a field my great grandpa farmed a hundred years ago
I’ll bet he stood under those same stars
and was also held fast
same as I

And my grandpa too!
Same soil, same field, same stars,
he would have gazed and been struck
at the beauty, the wonder of it all

And my dad, who farmed the same field
stood on the same soil
and after dark some harvest night
would have stood under those same stars
 
God’s grace is everywhere
above us
all round us
our challenge is to stop
look
and soak it in
 
Selah, Lin night harvest sky on the prairie, 2014

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Shifting Gears

The farm, well mechanized,
has lots of tires, lots of motors,
and lots of shifting transmissions,
shifting gears
 
As seasons shift
so must we
to match our efforts
to changing tasks
 
Winter has us pondering
computing and thinking
How to make the numbers work
Changing prices, inputs and outcomes,
somehow we need more ‘leftover’
more income than outgo
So we make our plans
and launch
 
Into springtime
the glorious bursting forth of life
of seeds into mothering soil
of plants growing like crazy
and war against weeds, insects and disease
 
Shifting gears, summer slides in
more sun, warmer sun
summer rains just in time
and preparing for harvest
 

Shed doors fly open
and machines roar to life
House sized machines come out
groomed for enormous tasks
of devouring, sifting and sorting
and delivering the goods

Once again long hours
workers glued to seats
Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen hour days
before sun up, to after sun down
with better and better lights
and machines that guide by satellite
yet need our eyes and ears
 
Seasons of shifting gears
decades of doing it better
more efficiently
more productively
 
What a privilege we have
with freedom and capitalism
to study hard, earn, and return
giving thanks
 
Time to shift our gears
it is, indeed, Thanksgiving time!
 
Selah,  Lin 2014

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Rainy Daze

Days of rain during harvest
give us a time to rest
But all too quickly we begin to wonder
“Where’s the sun?”
 
We peer at the darkened, cloudy sky
and wish for the warming, drying sun
So critical for harvest happening
 
Rain storms pass by
with wind, lightning and thunder
as we watch, helpless
the cornstalks jerk and lean
heavy ears at risk
Hang on!
Don’t twist and turn and break!

Truth be told
the sun is there
just waiting above the earthbound clouds
the clouds will rush away
and the sun will work again
 
So wait, uh, patiently!
That’s so hard!
Get ready, to run and pounce
work and laugh and share
Savor
The earth comes with seasonings!
 
Selah, Lin, harvest 2014

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Rainy DazeLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:52:52-04:00

Tween Rows

Horses chose corn row widths
way back when
The horse’s rump determined the gap
to allow the horse and farmer passage
 
Over the years things change
and others stay the same
 
We’ve gone from 40 down to 30
and some even down to 20
as machines replaced the horse’s hinny
the goal to capture sunlight
a skill in which the corn leaves excel
 
Corn becomes a forest
lush and dense as any jungle
except the rows make pathways
used by man and beasties
 
The farmer checks his corn
walking, stopping , studying
sometimes even with a lens
noting bugs and diseases thievery
pollination and yield guesses
 
Then comes fall
Harvest
Giant harvesters house sized moving
devouring
Eight and twelve rows wide swaths
twenty or thirty feet paths
back and forth they go
sifting, sorting, down to the seeds
the treasures of food, fuel and fiber
that makes it all worthwhile

Little critturs scurry, tween rows,
running along in the pathways
stopping and looking
“Here it comes!”
running further and further
between the rows
not able to think or see
safety is to the side
oh so close
they stay between the rows
 
Are we, like them
too often just tween the rows
not thinking, seeing
better ways, safety?
Are we following some long gone rump
instead of turning left or right?
 
Ah, tis easier
to follow the path
some ho hum horse trod
that became a human highway
and we don’t even know why
 
Lin, harvest 2014
following a rabbit tween rows
thinking about the tension between: sports and scholarship

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Garden Walk

A world of color
and shape
and texture
and size

Brought from catalogs
from other gardens
from other places

Brought together
in fine imagination
becoming reality
as paintings are painted
master gardeners sculpt in plants

Beds and borders
raised and sunken
terraced and potted
arranged just so
the creations bloom
and shower color
and bring us pleasure

Once a year
the gardens open
visitors stream
to gaze and ponder
savor and enjoy

Recognizing hard work
matched with creativity
the gardeners gather
to ooo and awe
appropriately
The soil so wooed
with seed and sun
food and labor
sends forth the fruits
to make it so

Creation
our tiny understanding
So pleasing
the Garden Show

Lin 06/05

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Garden WalkLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:52:57-04:00

The Rest of the Story

Evening in the city
my experienced friend the driver
Heather and I in her BMW speed along
brake hard and speed again
the sea of cars and people ebb and flow at rush hour
 
To the Reception!
People from around the world
a mix of winners and judges and The Company
Interesting and fascinating folks
Argentina, China, Hungary
America and the Americas
Asia, Europe, talking, sharing
 
Weather and crops, home,
What’s new? What’s exciting?
Every person with a passion for agriculture
Discoveries and actions, results
Sustainable Yield Pledge Awards…
the Rest of the Story
 
Brett and Deborah,
Heather and Michelle and Linda
Jesus and Pablo
Robert from Cornell and Yale
Kim who knows his ‘bees-ness’
John, the publisher, writer, editor…farmer
Viktor from Ukraine and children interests
Anna from Sweden, and
Marisa, Buenos Aires and Geneva,
mix in Billy from Missouri Corn Growers,
and Lin, a farmer from Illinois…
Who put their feet under a table
and ate together in St. Louis

Morning at headquarters,
a quick rehearsal, seats assigned,
visiting with the team from Hungary and a team from India,
a team from Argentina, and then
Jesus, vice president, The Company, in Argentina:
 
         ” Good Morning!”
 
Indeed it is! as he skillfully shares
a man with passion for science
passion for people who need to eat
for people who create and do
 
To the Awards!
A trophy 14 inches tall, a gold leaf, fitting:
adequate, healthy sustainable food is better than gold
 
Congratulations and a picture with the President
a reward for doing more with less
in a Sustainable Yield way
Efficient use of water
increased yield of crops
even a program to excite STEM
(Science, Technology, Engineering and Math in education)
(Please expand that to STEAM- add Agriculture for a hungry planet!)
 
This just a taste of
The Rest of The Story…about a company
where responsible research creates
 Food
 
Monsanto, the People 

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Empty Chairs

It hits hard
    the empty chair
    staring at us
A ghost sits there
    partially filling
    memories reaching out to us
 
A brave person sits next
    going on, keeping on
    carrying two new burdens
 
One the missing touches, embraces
    that link humans heart to heart
The other a thousand things
    the missing one did, would be doing
 
As time goes by the empty chairs increase
    numbers at funerals decrease
    those ‘on the other side’ grow
    those showing up moving slowly, carefully
    with canes and walkers and wheelchairs, assisted

Chapters close, books finish
    we lay them aside, or
    put them on a shelf, to gather dust
 
From dust we became
    and so return
    our fingers leaving marks
    my hands become my grandpa’s
    and I see them in my grandson’s…
 
Selah, Lin June 2014 
I got a jolt just yesterday.  A five star energetic lady, Nancy Strunk, recently lost her husband Duane.  At a meeting of the Farm Bureau legislative committee where she and Duane were regulars, she was sitting there with an empty chair next to her.  Just happened.  But the empty chair was ‘talking to me’, grabbing me by the throat.  They met and fell in love at the U of I, married, raised kids and worked side by side.  Now there are grandchildren.  And an empty chair.

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The Alleluia Chorus

>

Indeed there are tears of sorrow
shaking us in our core
spontaneously erupting
After all
Jesus wept
Peter wept
The mothers and those who loved Him wept
 
Death sometimes swallows not just the deceased
but those who go on living
in the deep dark shadows of separation
touch stolen
living and breathing but not whole
 
This background was added to
by unjustness, evil
pouring out, anger unleashed
by torture
humiliation
The worst that cruelty could image
was done
over
 
But
 
The stone was rolled away…
the grave cloths left
the story of the ages unfolded, as foretold
Christ has RISEN!

No wonder, then,
that warm tears of joy pour forth
that we must sing
must sound trumpets and tyrannies
FFF
 
Hope born was murdered
but rose from the grave
walking, talking, breaking bread
appearing again and again
teaching
making a way for us
to live victoriously
prepare for you, for me,  a mansion
and open the doors of heaven
 
So here we join the Alleluia chorus
for just a tiny whiff
of life forever
 
Alleluia!  Alleluia!  Alleluia!
 
Selah, Easter, 2014 

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The Alleluia ChorusLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:52:57-04:00

The Annual Meeting

Four degrees above zero
but the cars and pickups are rolling in
It’s a hardy bunch, these farm folks!
Not to be dissuaded by some bitter cold
 
Plenty of smiles at the check in desk
plenty of ‘Good to see you’ words being spoken
as the coat room fills to overflowing
 
The president gets the nod
taps on the mike
and the evening begins
“Welcome to the One Hundred Second Annual Meeting
of the Champaign County Farm Bureau”
and the faces of three hundred turn to see
 
A very spry eighty year old makes his way
looks out on the audience
He’s a veteran of decades of teaching math
helping others
and now the Prime Timer chairman
“Let’s pray.”
 
The clear voice fills the room
giving thanks
asking guidance
praying for those in the military
asking a blessing on the food
and those who prepared it for us
“Amen!”
 
“Let’s eat!”

A fine beef meal served
dessert and coffee finishing up
the meeting begins afresh
Switching from an eighty year old
to high school students
the Blue Coats parade the flags
Young men and women of the FFA
Shining examples of our youth
and the best America grows
The Young Ag Leader leads (of course!)
“I pledge allegiance…”
“One nation under God’
No apologies here, just recognition
of how small we are
and how big God is
 
All ages coming forth
to report, inform, about the business
“Smooth”, some said after
‘Best ever”, said others.
“We loved the speaker”, said others.
 
Katie Pratt, young farmer,
spouse, mother, advocate, educator
stepping up to the plate
from New York City to Hawaii
telling it like it really is,
the real story of American agriculture.
Outstanding!
 
The program closes
and many slip away
but many stay to visit
enjoying each other, no rush
 
A pleasant time
this event
to be remembered, savored
Good!
 
Selah, Lin January 2014 

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Corn, Soybeans and Chicago

Incongruous
you are thinking perhaps
but oh, they are linked!
 
Think ‘Price!’, for a start
and the Chicago Board of Trade
World leader
bringing willing seller and willing buyer together
to find a price to sell, a price to buy
today and tomorrows too!
 
We’re planted deep
in the prairie soils
luxuriating in green growing crops
but, summer passing,
the crops mature
and harvest begins
where will the grain be used?
 
Nearby factories?
Southeast livestock?
Or will it move to water
barges and ships and faraway places?
 
How is price discovered?
What’s that magic number?
Chicago plays that role….
 
A fitting place for that to happen
as our nation provides for the world
The only major supplier
every year, not now and then
(Jimmy Carter the exception)
ships load on our shores
carrying away food
to a hungry world, a growing world
population up up up!

Across our land
the scientists labor
riding the waves of grain
they discover
pass it on
genetically modifying, carefully,
very carefully,
to grow and more
with less and less!
Unbelievable!
But true!  Fact!
Less fertilizer, less chemical,
more yield!
Efficiency over and over…
“Keep It For The Crop!”
GPS the yield and GPS plant population…
GPS the plant food site specific!
Oh my!
 
Now ‘Unmanned Aerial Vehicles’
are rushing in to being
Google that one for a treat!
Oh my!
 
Enjoy the scenes of agriculture,
and enjoy the grain pits in Chicago
Dinner is served!
 
Lin, 8/2013 

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Windows on the World

A friend, sitting at our table
was watching a hawk at work
Our window on the prairie
was most satisfying to him
as it has been to us
and many, many others
 
The rich black fields stretch out
thick blankets of potential
now cold and wet with springtime rains
soon to be mothering
our food, fiber, and fuel
human necessities
 
Harder to measure
this view we savor
The impressive hawk
sometimes gliding, watching
then swooping down for a meal
Or the robins hopping about
or migrants stopping by along their ways
the doves so heavy looking
(can they really fly?)

In the distance a train zips by
Detroit to St. Louie
back and forth, a hundred cars
engines purring along
every mile their fog horns blasting
sound swallowed by the distance
 
Other folks have windows too
tapestries of their homes unfold
to make the pictures that capture our minds
Here we are blessed with space
the nearest house a mile away
there’s room for thoughts to stretch
reach out, grow
 
 
this is what home should look like…
Enjoy!
 
Lin 4/2013 

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On Hold

What a week!
A yelling, cheering crowd
lining the streets
a man on a colt passing by
 
Something went wrong
or was it right?
When crowds became vicious
begging for cruelty
evil pour out
 
A mock trial
a flogging
another procession
then the sky darkened
the earth shook
a heavy felt curtain suddenly ripped
silence
 
The world on hold
 
It was Friday
but Sunday was coming
 
The sun came up
and people went about their business
Sabbath days were quiet ones
Was the world holding its breath?

History had been opened
and sense made of so many things
Explained, in parables
Understanding stretched so beautifully
extended to coming generations
History had been made
the rebellion
the rebel
finished
 
Some were weeping
some in hiding, fearfull
some were happy at last
and some were simply relieved
 
Who knew?
The whole world
had been put on hold….
 
Selah,
Lin 3/2013 

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Tender Men

he Marine’s have a slogan:
“The Chosen, the Few”
that works, I think for some men I know
 
Strong are they,
fitting a term ‘man up’
they face life’s highway
storms and all
and keep going forward
 
This being earth
challenges come surely
as sun rises, sun sets
but, no matter,
these guys go

Yet they are tender
kindness in action
and tears come
It’s okay
Jesus wept
 
Oh how that lifts us
that ‘arms around us’ moment
when what is in a man’s heart
flows out in tenderness
 
A chorus comes to mind:
“He touched me,
oh, He touched me.
And oh the joy that floods my soul!
Something happened, and now I know,
He touched me…
and made me…whole!”

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Tides and Rivers

Taking two giant, sweeping steps back,
to think about the tides and rivers of mankind
and history, the currents across the face of earth
it strikes me how good and evil
rise and fall
 
Some strains are so obvious
with time, looking back
Like evil doomed, but nevertheless,
waiting with power, in the wings
to rise and twist in  ugliness
 
Sure, Germany was a mess
paving a way for Hitler
to organize, motivate, energize
So we have pictures of soldiers,
rivers of them streaming
into parts of Europe
 
And Japan, too,
their soldiers, planes, ships
growing like a tide
rolling into China, Island after island
even Hawaii
 
Russian troops, unleashed,
binding neighbor nations
strangling them with communism
grinding them in poverty
 
June, 1944, Normandy,
the greatest tide of history
as the collected strength of Allies
poured onto the beaches
then surged inland
like a new Mississippi
of troops and tanks and artillary
of wave after wave of fighter planes
and bombers by the hundreds
 
Evil unleashed
or saviors
to push evil down
get the lid back on
we need to be careful
to step back
and see ourselves as others see us
ask ourselves what values we have
and how are we doing

No question both good and evil
can unleash energy
My favorite movie story
puts the anger of a poor Jewish athlete
up against a flying Scott, Harold.
Both run fast, motivated
by opposite extremes
of love and hate
 
Love doesn’t come easy
nor is it kept clean
since Adam and Eve
it’s been a struggle
 
What a contrast
to understand, that this is earth
and up there, out there, is heaven!
Here what’s normal is ‘all messed up’
To make it better
it’s gonna be work
hard work
step by step
three steps forward, two steps back
 
So we have a model
God in human form
who came, lived among us
spoke and ate and slept
 
A baby in a manager
a man nailed to a cross
Precious baby, nursed by his mother
a boy,taught by his father
a young man, who brought evil to focus
let it pour out on him
 
In Him we see answers
how to value each other
“Behold thy mother; behold thy son.”
Man, woman, each one valued
treated with respect
Little man, big man,
fisherman, scholar
tax collector, Roman
no matter
Here is the way, the truth, the life…
 
For a person or a nation
by Him we can measure
where we are
By Him we can set our goals
and find the paths to get there.
 
Selah,
Lin 2/2013 

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Numbers and Emotion

Frustration rules on both sides
in the debate about the facts
I got a lesson early
in dealing with the public
 
Numbers are cast in concrete
two plus two equals four
end of story
but not for all!
 
You see, the problem is we’re humans
and humans like to think
often times in channels
or ditches or ruts
depending on your point of view
 
Some brains like mine are stuck
to drop into channels
ignore all else
focus
and race along the straightaway
Ah, but others
just as fair
go this way and that way and
do curves and mountains and valleys
Serendipity along their way

Oh my!
What gives?
 
I’ve pondered long and hard
and have come up with an answer
the norm in this world is tension
We are all in suspension
pick something, anything
and study reveals it’s so
 
So we’re gonna have some folks
born to see things differently
it is all created adventure
Climb aboard!
Enjoy the ride!
Yell and scream a bit
but know
 
This is earth.
There will be tension.
 
Lin 1/2013
(“Mr. Warfel! Those are the facts!  I don’t care about the ____facts! I know what I want!”  Unit 7 school board meeting, 1983) 

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Peace Story

Peace reigned supreme
in the Garden of Eden
But turmoil rains and reigns writ large
on the earth today
 
Peace broken, for the man
work, and labor
For the woman
labor of a different sort, but sure
seizing and dominating completely
 
Yet creation, the Creator, breaks through
from her labor a baby is born
IMPOSSIBLE
every birth
Yet there is the child
stretching and announcing “I’m here!”     

O Little Town of Bethlehem (softly)
 
This tiny human
toes and fingers
eye lashes and fingernails                       
everything arranged just so 

Hosanna! Hosanna!
The Whole World is singing! 
The hope of all ages is born!
 

The child comes with hunger
and sleep
peace

Time passing, a moment comes
and the mother tenderly, firmly, holds the face
“Look at me!” she says.
“Listen!”
Captured completely
the child looks into her face.
 
So here we are, Christmas
God holding our faces
“Look at me!”  God says
 
Peace, peace, wonder Full peace
coming down from the Father above
Sweep over my spirit forever I pray
with fathomless billows of love.*
 
So God did
So God does…
 
Selah
Lin 12/12/12 

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The Wonder of It All

The setting
a terminal moraine
south of Philo
center of the universe
for an interesting group of people
 
A clearing in the woods
just happened
as trees have been planted
over thirty years passing
 
But a just right space
on a just right summer’s day
as the setting for beauty unfolded
A bride, a groom, and guests
 
Honor bestowed
to brides, now mothers
escorted with care
to the honored seats
Dads are tag alongs
in more ways than one
on wedding days
Gotta be there
on best behavior
but kept out of the way
 
Except the bride’s dad, father
gets to escort his daughter
and give her away
one last kiss
one enormous passing
closing, partly
what a challenge
 
Reflections fly
as he remembers
a couple of decades in a flash
Feeling her first movements
before her birth
and then the birth
so grand, so impossible
but oh so real

Holding her close
tiny little person
studying her face
her fingers and toes
her eyes and eyelashes
watching her breathe
and watching her first protestations
Good lungs!
Born with a temper!
 
So at peace
as she slept
her face nestled
her body so relaxed
rocked to sleep
but dad not wanting to put her down
 
Another sunny morning
Saturday
tossing a ball back and forth
and running a race
she laughed so hard as she ran
and passed me up!
 
Seated tensely on her new bike
dad’s hand on the seat, steadying
he trotted along for a ways
and then set her free
the first of many ‘letting goes’
 
The dad says his lines:
‘Her mother, and I.”
 
Oh, the wonder of it all
generations passing
a baby makes a little noise somewhere
grandma and grandpas focus keenly
couples in the audience clasp each others hands
remembering, savoring the moments
 
Ceremony and reception over,
 the newly weds drive away,
honeymooners, at last alone…
together
 
Selah,  Lin 8/2014 

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Sustainable Farming

Just right tall
lush and dark green
a picture of health
and productivity
 
A child of success
the corn plant stood
food factory, par excellance
 
From one tiny seed
six hundred grew
a hundred day miracle
of science, environment, and work
 
A symphony American
genetics, engineering, machinery,
ethics and government
conducted by a people, a nation
 
So, the single farmer
supported by family
and a host of helpers off the farm
feeds himself, and 155 others

Freedom, with ethics
core values triumphant
year after year after year
we are blessed
 
So here we are
breadbasket
heartland
family farm
pausing, reflecting
at the wonder of it all!
 
The Doxology comes to mind:
Praise God from whom all blessings flow!
 
Selah,
Lin 8/2014 

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Summer Rain

A distant rumble
Darkening sky
The birds fluttering for a haven
Big drops splash here and there
Let the big show begin!

Now thunder rolling
Lightning cracking, sizzling
The clouds unload, raindrops pounding
Leaves doing a panic dance
Puddles forming gutters gurgling
A car splashes past
Wipers pounding back and forth in vain

The soil drinks deeply
Soaking up the rain like a sponge
To hold in trust for our plants
To store down deep for our wells
To recycle back through evaporation

We, being two thirds water
Are made to sing and dance
At the wonder of it all

Selah Lin July  2014 

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Summer RainLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:52:59-04:00

The Screened Porch

An evening on the prairie
Sun sinking a way out west
A cool gentle breeze swishing the corn leaves
And a comfortable chair on the screened porch
My shirt still wet from the evening’s work
Tiredness melting away with the breeze
Reflect on life
And blessings

The rich black soil that gives and sustains
The family
The Lord is good
Friends, near and far
Our church and churches
The flotilla of organizations, that reach out, reach in
Education, that lifts
Research, that unfolds. Reveals creation

A government, that lurches and stumbles
Yet somehow, with God’s grace
Goes on
Two steps forward and three back
Then four steps forward and two back

The mate, best friend 52 years…
And counting.

Here we are
Summer
Year of our Lord
2014

Selah. Lin. June is waning… 

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Rain, Rain, and More Rain

Rain, rain and more rain
soggy earth saturated
the crops stand and take it
 
Creation sent the glaciers:
Nebraskan, Aftonian, Kansan, Yarmouth, Illinois and Sangamon,
the pressed their weight on the face of the earth
and ironed it flat through here
 
So we’re flat!
So flat the water stands
no direction bidding, calling
We await the sun to evaporate
time to soak down down down
to become an aquafer, Mahomet Teays
 
Up north I hear of rivers flooding
lakes overflowing
on to the mighty Mississippi
Old Man River
that living twisting water snake
that sends our waters south
 
The thunder softens
moves on east
the pinging rain drops slow
and we Splash Splash across the barn lot

The cattle stood out in the rain
heads down, rumps to the wind
now steam rolls off their backs
as the sun shines on their glistening black hides
Their munching away begins again
Does the grass taste better
like salad washed and fresh
I wonder
 
Sometimes I wish that I
could stand impervious, oblivious
to the cold splashing raindrops
water dripping off my nose
Yet I know I’m made
fragile, sensitive
with a brain that says: “Don’t do that!”
“Seek Shelter!”
“You are the crown of creation”.
 
The fragrance after the rain I know
the colors of all that surrounds me are vivid
Life on high
I nestle under the wings
of creation, Creator
 
Selah, Lin June 2014 

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The Mountains Between Us

Nature has so many built in things
that can divide, separate us
Where we happen to be born
The parents, and all their learned differences
The circumstances, so varied yet important
 
Our feet get put on Life’s Highway
and we travel on
Left to see…or not
Hear…or not…
Touch…or not.
 
So we cling to our ‘own kind’
and the comfort of sameness
living in the valleys
between the towering mountains
 
How to melt the mountains?
How to level them out
so that we can be
what we are meant to be
 
Find a link, then another
that reaches across
above and beyond
and hold on
adding link after link after link
 
A rope of many fibers
cannot be broken
 
Caring is lifted up, held forth
but, I offer to you,
caring needs to be built on something
and that’s where education comes to help us
stretching us more and more and more
in ways we thought ‘Impossible!”

So we have Grey’s Anatomy,
a huge thick book
of all the parts
that work, and we live
for a moment
 
Graduations are toppings on our cakes
Yes, the cake’s been in the oven baking!
Ingredients pouring in, mixing, then into the oven
the time elapses, a buzzer sounds
and we pop open the door
heat pours out!
We set the cake out to cool
(how many of you are taking a break?)
Now comes the icing
 
What will you do?
Where will you do it?
With whom?
 
You have been prepared
and the doors are open
Go forth
and do your part
to bring down the mountains between us
 
Risk, reflect, and invest in people and things eternal!
 
Selah,
Lin Warfel, May 2014
Frank Walker’s Graduation   

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Nesting Time!

The robins and the doves
have one thing on their minds:
building the perfect nest
NOW!
 
Twigs and straws
pieces of grass and weeds
carried in beaks announce
a spot has been chosen
selected in very particular places
 
Fascinating the design, the process
that each species seems to know
that temporary home so necessary
to hold the eggs, the chicks
 
With the whole farm theirs
they flutter about and pick and choose
some liking buildings, some liking trees
some selecting spots up high
some selecting close to our house
 
Some seem oblivious
of the danger cats present
building too low, or easily accessible
But then, cats can be amazing
balance impressive
as they do high wire acts
to gain a meal.

Robins and doves
sparrows and wrens
pigeons and starlings
the list is pages
diversity sustained
we have our picture books
to help us I.D. them all
 
Driven is putting it mildly
they build their nests
and settle in
No books, no doctors to guide them
they just somehow know
eggs are coming
chicks will hatch
and grow
and fly away
 
Whoa!  Slow down…
sit back
reflect
 
“His eye is on the sparrow…
I know He watches me”.
 
Selah, Lin 4/2014 

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Nesting Time!Lin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:00-04:00

Holy Week

Looking back on half a century
and the time and season of planting
I can bear witness, I think
to something said to me back at the beginning:
“Holy Week the weather’s always troublesome!”
 
How about 48 out of 50?
That’s how often I wanted to plant
but weather intervened.
This year’s no exception!
 
Cold front.  Rain.  Dark.
Okay, Palm Sunday maybe better,
but then it falls apart.
No way tiny seeds
would like to be ensconced
in cold wet soil.
Wait!  Anticipate!
Easter is coming!
 
How fitting,
I think,
that weather often helps us
sort through our plans, our efforts
to give us a lesson (another)
on how small we are
how dependent on larger ‘things’!
 
So we trudge through the week
machinery all captured
behind closed doors
and we think.

Shouting, happy crowds
Hosanna!  Hosanna!
The whole world is singing
but then the world turns
and evil pours out
flooding the same streets with anger
Revulsion
One man, the focus
Lies. False accusations. Weak leaders.
Claiming great power:
“Don’t you know I have the power of life and death over you?”
The quiet man speaks:
“You have no power, except that given you from above.”
 
At another point
a rooster crows,
and the quiet man looks…at his disciple.
Oh, how often, eyes can lock between persons
and volumes are shared
without words being spoken
 
It’s Friday
but Sunday’s coming….
 
Selah, Lin 2014 

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Snow Birds

As sure as the snow flies
in northern climes
The snow birds flap their wings
or mount their wheels
to head to southern beaches

Their money flows with them
restaurants and shops
hotels and motels and rentals
lift their signs:
“No Vacancy!”

The cold weary folks
shed their parkas
insulated caps, boots and mittens
toss off shirts and don shorts
swapping suits and ties for swimming suits
skin gets into the game
strangely
with gals in bikinis…
and guys in Bermudas!
What gives?

Quiet streets get overloaded, jammed
with cars bearing northern plates
single lane bridges sprout long car snakes
of inchworm traffic

It is but for a day, a week
and they fly away, motor away
back to the cold and dreary

Selah, Lin 3/2014

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Dancing with the Soil, Seasons, and Nature  

It is written
that we came from the soil
dust of some nature
shaped into the form of man
No wonder, then,
there’s something about soil, that draws us
farmers and gardeners who use their hands
to touch, ponder, the mysteries of soil
 
The seasons are a wonder too
stretching our imaginations
challenging our capacities
with heat, cold, wind, rain
Parching plants and people
in August heat, the sun
almost cooks us
then fall drowns us in color
as leaves shout their warnings of winter
IT”S COMING!
Push the panic button
to store up food
to seal the doors and windows
against arctic blasts, snow and ice
Then, mixed with our exhaustion and depression,
buds begin to swell
robins appear again
pre dawn concerts alert and encourage us
that winter’s hold is slipping, and
in spite of a last flurry or two,
the grass is greening and spring is springing

In all these changes we have wind
and more wind
sometimes scourging in angry swirls
ripping trees and houses
slamming cars and trucks, smashing
and sometimes gently cooling us
Oh yes, the soil and seasons command us
 
“Be still”, spoken once to the winds and waves,
commanded Nature, but we
are left to study, discover, alter
tiny pieces to our pleasure
Each discovery finding more
another level, hidden til then,
but there, all the time.
 
Wise are we
to bow, to ask,
“May I have this dance?”
It was created, gifted to us,
for our use
We’ve learned so much
know so little
the dance has just begun
 
Selah,
Lin Almost spring, 2014 

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April Winds

Chilled, from deep winter’s freeze
the winds whosh and whistle
sending leaves and debris hip scotching along
barren branches twist and turn
remembering Chubby Checker!
(C’mon everybody, let’s do the twist!)
 
Wrapped against the chill
I freeze out in the wind
and melt in sun drenched lee spots
Cold, hot!  Cold, hot!
It’s springtime on the prairie!
 
The winter browned grass is waking
steadily climbing through the thatch
it’s green green green coming!
 
Buds are swelling,
so tender yet so strong
life will soon burst
into the magnificance of Easter
Color will splash the earth
and mother earth will open
to welcome the seeds of promise

I can’t but help wondering
if winter gets piled up somewhere
far and farther to the East
where the April winds blow it
Is it a giant earth game
where seasons hide and seek
to suddenly shout “You’re it!”
 
While governments muddle and stumble
the powers above us move
surety abounding
we can but respond
amend our plans as needed
to tune ourselves
to play in the orchestra
so small a part
so small our voice
 
Yet, together
our tiny voices can sail
singing with the winds
soaking in the sun
seeing and drinking in the seasons
we set our sails…
 
Hosanna!
 
Lin 4/2014 

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Howling Winter

A pinhole or a crack
is all the howling wind needs
to send snowflakes sailing in
Blizzard
Whiteout
Hour after hour
 
Snow swirls and drifts
sculptured piles arise
packed hard and firm
challenging man and beast
 
In grandma’s day the drifts
topped fences
so the cattle walked over them
as did she and her siblings
 
The one room schoolhouse
with the wood stove in center
was open all winter
Summer was for field work

Hard to image her folks
first winter on the prairie
living in a lean to…til spring.
Great grandpa took a sled
four miles southwest
sawmill on the river
brought boards back to the farm
to build a house the next summer
 
We’ve been building ever since
and the wind still blows
and the snow comes
Still, we have howling winter
and we hunker down
 
But we are warm…
Thank you Lord…
 
January, 2014, Lin 

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Christmas Characters

Some two thousand years ago
a parade of folks was moving
urged along by a star
 
A star above, Bethlehem,
small town Israel
plain people, none of note
 
But along came a couple
wife a young mother to be
husband a good sort of fellow
and the baby came
in a stable
 
Born in a barn, of sorts,
this little fellow
drew a line in mankind’s calendar
Anno Domino, came to be
They named him Jesus.
 
Out in the country
shepherds tended their sheep
as good shepherds do
But the star was overcoming
and drew them to that stable
 
Wise men from far away
noted the star as well
and they journeyed to that stable
bearing their significant gifts

The tiny babe set in motion
a king so powerful
he could order all small boys killed
He did, to solve a threat
But he missed one
just one
 
So here we are,
2013, Anno Domini
and we are challenged
to stop, reflect
on history before, and history after
and how it fits today
 
Can we be part
of that long parade
and visit the stable
and wonder
Like Mary, treasuring in our hearts
the story, and Jesus
 
“O Come, all Ye Faithful,
joy full and triumphant!” 
 
Lin, Christmas 2013 

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Christmas CharactersLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:03-04:00

Arms Around Agriculture

Happens once a year
a gathering of the arms
Illinois Farm Bureau
407,378 members
represented by 342 delegates
from each county in the state
 
Cars and busses
trains and pickup trucks
the farmers pour in to the Chicago Loop
toting suitcases (and billfolds!)
Delegates and alternates, friends and staff
officers and directors and onlookers
some 2,000 all together attend
 
Into the exhibit hall they come
greeting one another
happy to be together
Old faces and young ones
from strollers to canes and walkers
they meet and greet and talk to each other
 
Young Ag Leaders engage
debating issues of the day
bright young folks
educated and well spoken
they compete and are judged
but every single one’s a winner
 
Politicians come too
to milk the crowd
Friends of Agriculture
The Bureau pats their backs
pays them respect

The capstone moves into place
342 delegates take their seats
Consideration of Resolutions begins
ideas to amend policies or add new ones
gathered from all round the state
sifted, combined and presented
by the TRC, the Tentative Resolutions Committee,
18 county presidents rotated from the 18 districts

 
Each resolution read, then discussed and debated
sometimes for a moment, sometimes for an hour
the arms of the Bureau, the minds of the delegates
engage and resolve, yaying or naying.
The votes come in sound waves, most often,
a rush of voices competing
the President assesses, sometimes looks right and left
to the astute secretaries, the vice president, the legal counsel
and pronounces the fate, “Passed!”… or “Failed!”
and the body moves on.
 
46 pages, this year, 2013, plus some added from the floor,
 surfaced just recently, but important to consider.
The delegates march on through
Parliamentary procedure tested:
“Point of Order!”  ‘Move to amend!”
“Ready to vote?”
Finally complete, the policies will gain feet
Thousands of feet, walking to Springfield, to Washington
carrying the ideas for presentation
with some policies becoming bills, and the laws of our land
 
The astonishing rich soils of Illinois
produce these people
the “Show up” folks
who move our state, our nation
the Farmers of Illinois, America,
who have their arms, around agriculture
producing the food, fiber, and fuel that sustain us.
 
Lin Warfel
the 2013 Illinois Farm Bureau Convention
the Palmer House, Chicago 

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The Pouring Season

From the garden
the orchard
and the fields,
fall is the pouring season!
 
Nature pours forth rewards
for labor and energy
for thinking and planning
and so we see
 
The tomatoes and potatoes
the squash and onions
gathered into baskets and coming in
The kitchen is alive with processing,
changing summer’s bounty into keepers
Slicing and dicing and grinding
freezing and canning
protecting for later use
the work is enormous
 
The fruit trees, the nut trees,
shower the ground when they are ready
Next year’s life having moved into seeds
life hidden, protected with layers of nutrients
to spawn more trees
So we work to capture the fruit
pouring the apples, the pears, the walnuts
from buckets and baskets into carts
to, once again,
make their way to the kitchen,
where processing swings again

The corn and soybeans click some switch
Growth stops.  Green goes away
to be replaces with soft colors
gentle, soothing colors of completeness
Done.  Ready for harvest.
So the harvest machines roar back and forth
sucking in the fruits, processing them,
pouring them into trucks
that pour them into giant storage bins
that pour them into trains
that pour them into barges and ships
 
Pouring, pouring, pouring!
Bounty to feed ourselves
and folks around the world!
Blessings poured out as food
for we are hungry every day
created for life
 
Ah, we pour ourselves
into the tasks
and creation pours back to us
and we sense, we see
though dimly, through a darkened glass
God breathed life into us
poured into us
and we are to pour into others
in our time
 
L’chaim!
Lin, Harvest, pouring, done, 2013

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The Pouring SeasonLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:03-04:00

Soil Chef

Fascinating
to watch a skilled chef
who knows the chemistry
to watch him or her mix
then taste, savoring, thinking
a little bit of this, a little bit of that
 
With soil,
we dig a trench to see
the profile, from top to deep
we slice a sample
a core
then head to a laboratory
 
Test for balance
acid/alkaline, neutral?
phosphorus, potassium
and a scattering of others
and then we can create a prescription:
 
Needs this much of that
this much of that
and so on
 
The mix is bought and scattered
and then we test again
and again
and again
all the while looking, watching
how the plants are doing
Sort of ‘stick out your tounge and say ‘ahhh”
 
Hmmmm
There must be something more
slipping away unnoticed, unmeasured
We need to study this more
 

By and by we find bacteria
Not one, but a million!
Little critturs banging around
spewing out compounds, chemicals
in response to what they encounter
Wow! We find
a whole huge world we’re walking on!
What we’ve been calling ‘dirt’
is fascinating!  Complex! Amazing!

So it becomes ‘soil’
spoken with respect
and ‘dirt’ is said no more.
 
It seems that, sometime earlier,
soil was sculpted
designed
created
in a distinct and orderly way
 
There must have been
a soil chef
who put this mix together
 
Who could have shaped
and breathed into
gave life to
yet another dimension
for us to discover
uncover
 
“O Lord, my God,
when I in awesome wonder
consider all
the worlds thy hands have made…’*
 
Lin 10/2013
 
*”How Great Thou Art”, Stuart K. Hine, 1953 

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Water Water Everywhere!

 
Sandy soils overlaying the ocean
holding back that behemoth of waving, foaming power
give way to sandy soils over plentiful water
 
Fields carved by streams and rivers
water, water everywhere!
Navy, fishermen, pleasure boaters
attuned to the waterman life
 
What a treat!
Refreshing, for the flatlanders of Illinois!
How tempting to wet a line
take a cruise
kayak, canoe, or power launch
Sailboat maybe?  Silently slipping along…
 
Water colors, flavors the lives
tides rising, falling, rivers gliding out to sea
and the sea, a mind of its own
with moods of compliance
or testing
or dominating severely

Respect required, commanded,
wisely obeyed
we mark the shores with lighthouses
build docks to capture and hold the boats and ships
build giant factories to pour their products forth
filling ships to sail the seas
Rail yards to serve the land produce
dumping their grains and coal and steel and
a thousand, ten thousand things and more
to share commerce around the world
 
The people sleep, yet waves lap
lap
lap
grinding shells, grinding sand
night and day and year after year
who can fathom the energy
hiding within the oceans?
 
Selah, Lin, Virginia, the York, the James, the British and First Nation names…2013 

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Flowers in the Rubble

Our structures stand
wind and rain
sun and cold
strong against the elements
 
But in a moment
the wind can torture
the rain can flood
the sun can certainly age them hard
and the cold can make them crack
 
Above these things
the humans reign
building, tending, repairing
but in a moment
an angry wind can take away
 
The roar of a freight train
on the loose
making its own track across the prairie
lifting up
dropping down
the tornado twists and sucks
smashing all in its way
 
But in a moment
it is gone
and quiet comes
to find but rubble
where once proud homes stood
and the people come out
scratched and bruised and bleeding
but walking, talking, looking
at the lashing the wind has done

The people are the flowers
who rise up from the rubble
to once again build
Newer, better, the structures go up
as hands and machines work together
 
Help has come
neighbors join and share
clothes and food pour in
as word goes out
 
Insurance dollars flow
gifts of money come
and folks find ways to build it back
 
Buildings, trees, cars and trucks
have their times and places
but the flowers
the people
rise above
Thanking God for life, and mercy
 
Selah, Lin 11/2013 

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“I’ll Figure it Out!”

Delight comes
in ever so many ways!
Years ago a college student called.
“Could you use some harvest help?”
Indeed I could, so I invited the young man out.
 
On the farm he was in his element.
‘Can do!” was his aim.
He did!  Expeditiously with a smile!
In the field or at our table
he was a pleasure to be around.
And we worked.
Hard.
Long.
Til harvest was complete.
 
As planned, he graduated…
and commended his younger brother for the job.
Hired him too.
Like his brother
a ‘Can do’ person.
Driving trucks, tractors, the combine, mowers…
whatever
Did the jobs with aplomb!
He was a pleasure to be around!
In the field or at our table.
As planned, he too graduated and was gone.
 
Two decades passed,
and I got a call.
“Could you use some harvest help?
My dad and my uncle worked for you,
and thought you might need a hand with harvest.”
This one had a special comment,
when I gave him instructions on what needed done
and it was new to him:
“I’ll figure it out!”
Determination, crystal clear on his face.
What an attitude!  I loved it!

First thought, ‘That’s the American Farmer!”
Whatever the challenge:
“I’ll figure it out!’
We have!  We do!  We will!
Second thought: ‘That’s the American way!”
From the founding fathers and mothers on
America has done that, does that, and will do that!
 
Governor Lee Sherman Dreyfuss figured it out.
A history prof, he reflected on our short history,
and the history of the world.
He believed an Invisible Hand, has been upon us,
and he stated his case well.
 
George Washington Carver
‘figured it out’.
Studied the Bible and concluded:
‘There’s more to the peanut than we’ve discovered.’
He discovered, and discovered, and discovered.
 
Adam Smith, philosopher,
thought long and hard and made his notes.
Sat himself down, and in 1776
‘figured it out’.
Freedom, capitalism, and the wealth of nations…
America
‘figured it out’
 
The Hand, the Word, the mind in freedom
the attitude
and we, indeed, can
‘figure it out!’
 
Lin 10/2013  Kendall Phelps 

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The Last 500 Feet

As a runner
I’ve been there:
that last 500 feet
The finish line to cross
 
Yes, the race matters
all of the way
The hills, the straight aways
the curves we can’t see around
yet there’s something about
that last 500 feet
and the line we need to cross
 
A year of planting, tending,
then harvesting
gets to that last 500 feet
The last rabbits, pheasants
are there to help
as the last rows are devoured
processed
into the chosen kernals and seeds
that hold the valued foods
 
The finish line
that needs to be crossed!
Like a journey across the vast Pacific
that ends at a specific dock
where a gang plank goes down
and connects with the land
 
Like the long long flight
the landing, the connection
and then the cabin door is opened
and fresh air rushes in
and used air rushes out

And like the journey through classes
papers and exams
and more classes
til finally, finally,
one crosses a stage
and a diploma is in our hands
the last 500 feet
to a diploma…
 
Some 32,000 days, on average,
pass from first breath, first suck
to the last 500 feet
and our last lay down
No more mountains to climb
no more rivers to cross
just 500 feet to cross
to the finish line
 
A final planting
marked with a stone
a peaceful spot
where loved ones can come
reflect
on the journey, however long,
and then
the last 500 feet…to heaven
 
lin, harvest, 2013 

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Butterfly World

A friend stopped by
the other day
Business on his mind
We sauntered to the backyard
a retreat environ
to set n talk a bit
 
Settling back, he observed:
This sure is a peaceful place!
Patio surrounded
trees and shrubs and flowers
Blue sky, white clouds
shades of greens and splashed of flowering plants
far from the din of the world
 
It’s a butterfly place, you see
They come, to flit about
and rest
Background sounds are wrens
several families call this home
their songs of greetings abound
as do the tiny Finches
adding to the splashes of color
Doves rest heavily under the feeders
happy to coo about, mourning
and Robins chirp their tunes
a symphony of sounds
abetted with colors
clouds moving lazily
flowers and leaves waving
fluttering sometimes
as do the butterflies
birds

It’s a created place
combinations put in place
by the Lady of the House
the Lady of the farm
Master, indeed, Gardener!
 
Creates a place for separation
creation
inspiration
 
Come sit with us sometime
rest yourself
and soak it in
 
Selah,
Lin 7/2013 

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Threads to Tapestries

Thoughts can often be threads
opportunities alone
happening but needing friends
 
Alone they reach out
but can’t survive
going further and further
until they disappear
 
But joining with others
they become a cloth
offering great things
Think sails on great ships
think uniforms on a million soldiers

Think warm blankets in a cold world
or suits and dresses for kings and queens
or denim for the workers
who show up, and carry the world
 
Together they can become
a tapestry
portraying mighty deeds
encouraging others to carry on
 
Here’s to those who create the threads
that bind us
becoming a cord of many strands
that cannot be broken….
 
Lin 7/3013 

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Threads to TapestriesLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:05-04:00

Corn Talk

No, I’m not slipping away!
I just do my best to tune in…
to ‘think like corn’ along the way.
 
So there’s a ‘pop’ in early summer
when corn pops its spike up through earth
to greet the sun and me.
One day the field is just rich and black
and next day a million spikes are there
having popped up to greet the sun and me
 
Next there’s a scramble
as it grows as fast as can be
the race is on to canopy
cover the earth with green
capture all the sunlight possible
 
Ah, corn talk happens!
Chest high and higher
with maximum growth conditions
between the joints on the stalks
some summer evenings it happens:
A soft popping noise!
A million plants are growing,
reaching
and at the nodes the leaves unfurl
growing so fast there is a noise!
 
Add to that to soft rustle of leaves waving
summer breezed blowing
almost like a green ocean surf
one can see the wind waves

So soon the plant is finished
and the green turns to tan
Sun tanned?
The tone changes
and brittle leaves speak
Harvest!  Harvest!
 
In an instant it’s over
as the harvester roars along
grabbing the stalks and jerking down
32 feet per second
one fourth of a second
and the stalk is on the ground
crushed
and the ears are in the combine
 
The sound of corn pouring
from the combine to a truck
from the truck into a grate
and the harvest goes to processors
 
The Creator through the earth, creation,
has blessed us
with food, fiber, fuel
that we may live
abundantly
 
Lin, at corn popping stage, 7/2013 

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Fog

Something about the fog
that quiets the cattle
me
the world
 
A fine white mesh
shrouding the earth
closing us in
together
 
We move more slowly
me
the cars
the ships
nosing our ways
on quiet
 
Slow down earth
it seems to say
you’ve been hurrying
much too much!
Peace, now,
murmur to each other
hold off on shout and push
and race to nowhere

Up there somewhere
the sun is burning
all powerful, to be sure
it will burn away the curtain
turn up the heat, the pace
and we’ll all be back at it…
 
Shhhhhhhhhhhh….
 
Did you hear the low
Moooooooooo?
The lazy fog horn?
Go ahead!
Mutter it long and low
and quietly…..
 
Lin 7/2013 

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Fragile and Strong

The warmth of our springtime sun
has caused the buds to break
Tiny, fragile leaves abound in greeting
Blossoms will soon burst forth
color and fragrance will bless us
 
What a time of freshness
as the grays of winter fade
and the prairie celebrates life again
It was there, all the time
but hidden from us
 
Leaves and flowers and grass surge
in the power of life created
and won’t be held
What nature does for plants
Easter does for us

Ah, earthly powers won’t give up!
Strong winds will blow
tree limbs falling
some leaves and blossoms blowing away
a cold snap or two will lash out
maybe even some snow
But
the sun, the son
will win!
Have won!
 
Take two steps back,
pause,
take it in
take Him in…
 
Lin 4/2013 

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Fragile and StrongLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:06-04:00

Climbing to the top

Climbing to the top of the Hill
The forest floor tilts
slides and rises
trees bored in
flora and fauna blankets rich
 
The sun shines through,
filtered beams of light through tall black and gray soldiers,
the mountain world challenges, teases
we humans to conquer
We are born to climb
every hill, every mountain
has a top
just waiting
 
What’s on the other side?
What view is just over ‘there’
somewhere, over the rainbow….

Climbing to the top
to sing, ponder, see
soak in the hills and valleys
Ants, in the scheme of things
we’re the only ones in charge
owners, no, tenants only
we can learn and grow
and understand, a little
and knowing that sense
there’s more
 
At the top are more
mountains to climb
always more
there we find
ours is to do the climbing
and then discover we’re small
smaller
and God the creator is big
bigger, biggest
 
Selah
Lin 4/2013 

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Climbing to the topLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:07-04:00

Leaning In

Humans have a core value
deep within their spirit hearts
we see it in attractions
especially when they’re focused
 
Words come hard to define
emotions that hold us firm
love, being at the top
commanded, by the top
 
So we are blessed
to come to a place, a time,
when inhibitions melt
and someone ‘leans in’
instead of holding back
 
Ah, the world is a place
of holding back!
Safety, assumed,
in retreat, seclusion, cocooning
fences built and strengthened
locks in place, secured

Then too,
the world is a place
of lashing out
anger boiling, spilling over
to hurt, punish
swinging wildly at any and all
eyes closed in fury
 
Antidote: love
leaning in
the healing, growing, healthy way
to abundant life
now and forever.
 
“Teacher!  What is the greatest commandment?”
“Love the Lord thy God, with all your heart, soul,
mind and strength.  And the second is as unto the first:
Love your neighbor as yourself.”
 
And who is my neighbor?
You are!
 
I’m “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms!”
Lean in!
 
Lin 4/2013 

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Falling Rain

Can be a downright gift
raindrops falling on dry soil
quenching a thirsty land
replentishing an entire aquafer
When drought reigns
it’s cause for celebration
 
Can also be a plaster
slapped up against the house
windows lathered with running water
maybe even a piece of leaf sticking to the glass
and the gurgling of downspouts commenting
 
Can be, here on the prairie
‘horizontal rain’
as the winds go full bore
sometimes, even,
masking a tornado
circling winds at race car speeds
tearing and smashing cruelly
our constructs ripped to rubble
people hurt and killed

My favorite’s the early morning
gentle rain
pattering softly on our roof
a good morning lullaby
that I can sleep in a bit
my day changed to ‘slow down’
and ‘catch up’
The soil is being patted
and so am I…
 
Orchestral ministrations
for life’s opera
bumping along life’s highway
letting us know we’re small
so small
and we need each other
 
lin 5/2013 

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Carried Along

Who, would you think
is the most powerful person on earth?
Some might say ‘The President’.
 
Yes, he is ‘Commander in Chief’
but in that role
the Generals and Admirals
know so much more
Even the sargeants do too!
The President comes along later
far from the jeeps in the desert
far from the ships at sea
 
Indeed he sits with Congress
and the Courts
to push his agenda forward
but oh, so many limits
so many strings
not there for him or her to pull.
 
I submit the President
is in fact carried along
by events not chosen
not really controlled on earth.

Ride along with me
out in the country
where buffalo used to roam
sit at the family table
with the farmer, the agronomist, the teacher
put your feet under the table
as the family shares the day
 
This, is still, the
astonishing rich soil of America!
Indeed!
 
A place of intelligence
focus
passion
and compassion. 
 
That’s where you and I live,
far from the marble and concrete
of government.
Here cows don’t give milk
somebody has to take it from them!
Nor does the soil magically yield fruit
somebody has to till and plant, tend and harvest
Engineers dream and build machines
that move the world.
 
Selah,
Lin 5/2013 
 

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Dads and Sons

Two times
I saw grandpa cry
First time was at Camp Butler
His only heir was being buried
the casket lowering into the grave
the pale blue eyes were flooded
he was so quiet
 
The whole place, big cemetery
was quiet too.
A sob was heard here and there
as folks remembered him
the fallen Captain
life snuffed out in far away Normandy
St. Lo, they said.
Fierce fighting
 
A man of few words
a thinker
who worked so hard
watching his dreams return to the soil
Too soon!
 
Generations pass
and memories fade, pass away
but there are markers
We should walk there
reflecting on this one and that one
Names from all nations
who became America
and stepped forward for the test
What price will you pay
for freedom?

Dates of first breaths and last
carved into white stones
Long, straight lines, these markers
now stand at permanent attention
Years will pass
the stones will witness those who come
to remember, reflect
on who the person was, what they might have been
If
 
Yet they live on
in the markers God created
genes, faces, voices
hair and eyes and size and even mannerisms reflecting
the silent ones
 
If
they could but see and laugh and touch and hold
but they can’t, and won’t
 
So we are left to ponder, reflect,
and walk amongst the long white lines
of Camp Butler
 
Lin
Memorial Day
Camp Butler
2013

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Dads and SonsLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:08-04:00

Widows and Moms

Camp Butler, National Cemetery,
home to fallen soldiers and wives
sees a stream of folks coming
gathering for solemn ceremonies
followed by volleys of rifle shots
the whole graced
with tears
 
Widows with children
stand and watch, listen
kind words spoken
then flag folded purposefully
and handed to her
a gift from a grateful nation, preserved
 
A clang of metal against metal
as the half mast Camp flag flutters
whipping and snapping in the wind
Almost like notes, messaging,
snapping a salute
there is an unseen, but present
a dimension we sense is there
but we can’t see…yet.

Time passing,
the grave site is seeded
and the grass grows
as do the children
cars pass by on the nearby interstate
The flag flies high again, waiting,
for another procession to come
a bugle to blow
and more tears gracing this place
 
Resolved, said Lincoln
It shall not be in vain!
It hasn’t.
It isn’t.
 
Grandchildren, great grandchildren come
walk on the grass
soak in the peacefulness and wonder
at the long straight rows of markers
standing rigid at attention
“Ten Hut!”
Listen up!
Freedom is not free!
What will you pay?
 
Camp Butler
Memorial Day
2013 

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Diamonds and Pearls

Context can be fascinating,,,
Want to take a quick trip with me?
Down memory lane, to
college days
and today?
 
There we were in ’59
the Class of ’63
Indeed, bright eyed
and bushy tailed
(and bushy faced, a Cave man thing!)
standing on the Chapel steps
singing as loud as we could sing
 
As freshmen at ‘Dear Ole Wabash”
we had a ceremony
The Chapel Sing
wherein we all were required
to sing the song
without a hitch
but with a catch:
Upperclassmen could do their best
to confuse, bamboozle, frustrate, distract
so we would lose our concentration, falter, fail
 
Whereupon a special haircut would brand
the poor, poor Rhynie!
“W” would be the only hair left
atop the noble crown!
All could see the failure stamped
announcing he messed up
The world at end…?
 
Time marched on
and so did we
Studying, learning
jumping through the college hoops
to life
 
We were young pearls
cast upon the mighty seas
Oh what varied oceans we,
so small,
did launch into

Ah, we plowed
this way and that
making marks
Law, medicine, education
all the arts of liberalism
yet disciplined to be conservative
holding fast to values learned
lived, by our profs
Their names still live in us
 
As President White proft to us
“We never left Wabash,
and Wabash never left us.”
Indeed.
 
So there we were
back on the Chapel steps
Singing our hearts out
competing, with each other
and other classes
‘Dear Ole Wabash
thy loyal sons shall ever love thee,
And, o’er thy classic halls,
the Scarlet flag shall proudly flash.
Long in our hearts,
we’ll bear the sweetest mem’ries of thee,
Long shall we sing they praises,
Old Wabash!”
 
Diamonds now,
hardened by 20 thousand days,
50 years and counting
having attained, being,
pearls of wisdom and learning
cementing around the grains of sand
that caught our imaginations then
indeed.
 
Selah, Lin Warfel, ’63, June 2013 

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Pleasantville

A gentle afternoon, I’d say:
gentle breezes, nudging the trees
branches like huge feathered fans nodding
Oh so mild temperature, just right
humanly speaking
 
Even the sun seems at ease
sharing the afternoon with us
 
A screened porch, shade
just right softness chairs
made to rock a bit
even a ceiling fan
waving and nodding down
 
Wrens and finches
robins too
back and forth from feeders to nests
All together now:
Pleasantville….

Long green lines of soybeans or corn
marking the rich dark soil
Soon the lushness will close and cover
hiding the soil til fall
The prairie is quietly exploding
with flowers and beauty
Like the beginning of a great musical piece
this movement hides the power coming
the crescendo builds towards harvest
 
Yes, nature is singing
the orchestra is tuned
for just some moments
we can sit and breathe
 
Selah
Lin 6/2013 

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Abba

There is a place
for Fathers!
Perched high up on his shoulders
a little one rides along
wrapped around dad’s neck
holding on to his ears or hair
Secure and happy
to be so tall
look out upon the world
from that exalted stage
 
Another day
his big hand holds hers or his
as they cross the street together
Secure and happy
under his wing, protected
for that passing moment
 
Absent for some time
arrival home happens
She or he runs full bore
leaping up into his arms
enfolded, warmed deep down inside
together again
the world catches its breath
another passing moment
precious, counting

He or she prepares
due diligence to the task
practicing over and over
and then the race
Competing, running with the pack
then bursting forward
snapping the tape
Hurrah!
Abba’s heart is bursting
popping buttons on his shirt
Well done!  So happy!
 
So many happy times:
graduations
marriage
a baby…
 
Turn around, this is earth
not heaven
so bad things happen
Abba’s there too
heart twisted and wrung
squeezed and scratched and cut
deep pain
Holding the hand, praying,
all he can do…
 
Our Father in heaven
holy is your name
Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done
on earth
as it is in heaven…. 

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The Planter Sits

The planter sits
in the cold dark shed
last week it came out in the sunshine
then, like Punxsutawney Phil
went back into its hole
to wait for a better day
 
Thunder rolls across the prairie
yet another rain
I’m dreaming it sure would be nice
to move this shower to July
when the crops and I are wanting
But that’s not my role
 
I hitch it up
repair and grease
adjust and refine
test it out
and wait
 
The planter sits
long and quietly
waiting for it’s season
the curtain call
pulling on stage, under the lights
like a plane on the runway
engines tested
all inspections passed
ready for the call
“Cleared for takeoff!”
Throttles eased to full
engines roar
moving, faster, faster
all systems go
monitors clicking, flashing ‘Go!”
“Go!  Go!  Go!’

At first I’m humming
then I’m singing!
‘Yea!”  I’m working!
Winter’s shroud is torn asunder!
the seeds of promise  slipping in
patted just so, precisely, counted
Okay!  Okay! Okay!
 
But not today.
Not tomorrow.
We wait.
The planter sits.
 
Lin 4/2013 

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Mama Sabine Manyonga

<

Sister, and mama, beloved
Angelic on earth
welcomed home for sure!
She graced while she was here
 
A presence, wherever
she was, lighting the room
with kindness and caring
Tender, to all, she engaged
with her smile and happy disposition
How did she do it?
suffering herself?
 
Somewhere back in the Congo
she gave herself to Jesus
and he lifted her mightily
as a nun, as a nurse
she loved
and people responded
 
Especially to the little ones
and to the weak ones
her love reached out
and she was loved right back
Joy walked with her

Within moments, one knew
this lady was special!
Somehow her spirit engaged, connected
and a bond was formed
She saw into a person, a gift
she used with compassion
so people sought her out
trusted her, confided in her
 
We lost; heaven won
for now
 
Selah, Lin 4/2013
Sister Sabine Manyonga, May 3, 1967-April 4, 2013
Job 1:21
Job 19:25:27
2 Timothy 4:6-22 

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Heart of America

I’ve been thinking
about where America’s heart is
and I think I’ve seen some answers!
 
I note a certain part of the county
where guys and gals are givers
they reach out constantly
it’s a habit
close by and around the country
 
Begin with ‘they are craftsmen (and women)
whatever they do, they do with passion
to do their best, make things ‘right’
Could be farming, building houses
or electrical work with insulating houses
or plumbing/heating
ah, mechanics/technitions – the best!
Gardens, foods? Dinners?
They are a joy to behold!
Dutch flats?  Flatville?  Gifford?
Like one great big family…
with great big hearts!
 
Okay, pick another area
southwest, this time
two small towns
each a dominant, different church
but the same predisposition
to do it well, very well
and keep on doing it better!
The same skills pursued
and mastered with like aplomb
again, two great big families
with great big hearts!

The core, I believe,
is their link to church
and not just any
but ones with heart commitments
ones that serve, the other fellow
helping and respecting are nurtured in
They help each other
and they reach out, further and further
no boundaries
they care
 
Jesus is the Master
guiding and directing
the way, the truth, the light
His way is their way
so they care, they serve
 
Oh, how they live!
Loving and laughing
crying when it fits
they are blessings
the best, they are
the heart of America
 
Selah, Lin 3/2013 
 

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Chapter 22

Another door closes
as Sonia’s hands pull
family treasures enclosed
trucked here and there and
Where?
 
Glancing back on decades
of goings…and comings
Places flit across the minds eye
Oregon, Illinois
New York
lines reach out to places
as far away as France
 
Home is where the heart is
and heart begins with mom
She can make a home
wherever she is, in ‘now’
 
A train station?  Airport?
A little circle is drawn
surrounding mom
and that’s the temporary home

A room at Hampton Inns?
She can make it home
for just as long as she is there…
 
On the farm, upstairs
but really all over the farm
her presence draws the lines
and around her we gather
‘come home’
to be with her.
 
Indiana?  Oregon?
No matter!
If she is there
so are we!
 
Moving on
with mom…
 
Selah, Lin 3/2013 

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March Sunrise

Crisp morning air greets me
the walk frosted lightly
green grass grayed with ice
the warmth of the sun so good!
 
Winter’s hanging on
by it’s fingernails
losing to the tilt of earth
more and longer sun
 
Our black soil is soaking
a soppy blanket of mud
drinking in the precious water
that seedlings will soon be needing
 
Fitting that we are preparing for Easter
when darkness wins, then loses
and the Son bursts forth from the grave
New life is the order breaking bonds
rising to new heights, soaring with singing

The crocus spears have poked on through
buds are starting to swell
lambs dance around in the pasture
Soon church parking lots will overflow
with seekers and finders
 
Hosanna! Hosanna!
The whole world is singing!
The hope of all ages is risen!
He is the Way, the Truth, the Life
Now, and forevermore
Amen!
 
Lin 3/2013 

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Catch!

One fine Kentucky summer day
some friends stopped by the drug store.
“Come on, Ken!” they said,
“We’re gonna try out for football.
Come ride along with us.”
So he did, the high school grad.
 
Standing near the coach,
the coach was sizing him up.
“Wanna try out?” Coach said.
“Take this ball and get past those big galloots!”
“Catch!”
Run, he did, tricky little guy,
he zipped right past ’em.
“Try it again”, said the coach…
and he did… for four years!
 
We all have moments like that,
when somebody tosses us the ball.
After we catch it, what happens?
Stand on the sidelines, holding on?
Or running, with all we’ve got,
zigging and zagging around the obstacles,
heading for the goal line.

“Lo, I am with you always,
even to the end of the earth.”
We don’t run alone.
Someone was with Ken,
as he progressed to be,
using his gifts, maxing out.
Oh, did he soar, blessed
along life’s highway.
 
So, the ‘coach’ tosses us a ball
to see what we will do.
Yawn and watch, or
run with the wind!
Doing our part,
running with.
 
Selah, Lin 2/2013 

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White Grass

The earth’s blanket
wears different coats
Most famous I think
is green
 
Poets, singers,
laud the richness
of lush grass, growing
and feeding animals
 
Summer’s harsh sun
and lack of moisture
or winter’s cold
can turn the green to tan
An earth tone
is suspect
 
A little coat of snow
can grace the grass with white
brilliant in the morning sun
purity displayed over earth

This morning’s grass was white alone
frost had glazed each blade
so thick the carpet lay
tinted green so slightly
it was quite a sight to see!
 
Even our barn red mailbox was frosted
plastered with thick frost it stood
another testament to moisture laden air
being pulled from cold darkness to springtime sun
 
I’ve been frosted too!
Years have grayed my hair
and headed it towards white
How about you?
 
Lin  2/2013 

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Grandad’s Island

Put together over years
the island was a refuge
the world whirling, swirling
in chaotic ways
power and money soaring and sinking
the island was a place
where perspective rested and grew
 
Every shelf, every wall,
every cupboard and every drawer
spoke smoothly of the couple
whose lives were tapestry to see
Grandma lived there.
 
Colors, patterns,
art and memories
reflected times and places
Grandma was a home maker.
 
The nook where he devoured
the Trib and WSJ
the local paper here
and hometown paper Kentucky,
the plain steel office desk
and common office chair
where he raced through computations
checking, correcting the IRS
Reading (devouring) facts and figures
The love seat couch in the den
where movies were watched together
 
Small wonder, the island became
so precious at the last
when a worn out body settled down
to ‘put in time’
do final things….

So fitting the island was
where he passed
quickly and without pain
from this life to the next
 
The island now has waves
of distribution to the family
Week by week, items leave
Room by room the island empties
sometime soon to some new owner
 
Nothing is the same.
Yet it is.
The prairie seasons changing
winter will melt into spring
and new life will come
as always
 
New islands are forming
east coast to west coast
new tapestries of life are being woven
every day, the threads that bind us
can become stronger
 
We are left to consider
what it all means
how we shall then live
Will we invest ourselves in people
and in things eternal?
 
Remember
Grandad’s Island
 
Selah, Lin 1/2013 

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Tucked In

Little moments come our way
like tucking in a little one
lovingly smoothing a blanket
to cover them just so
 
The early risers do the same
to the sleeping loved one snuggled
with pillow and blanket for a little more
A kiss, a careful adjusting,
perhaps a gentle pat
and murmured words
“I love you”
 
On the other end of life
an undertaker steps up front
to pull a silken quilt up
covering a face a final time
then closing the lid
turning a sealing crank
 
Done
 
Some words are spoken
some songs are sung
the preacher puts one hand on
almost patting the casket
raises the other hand high
calling on God to comfort those here
receive the loved one there

Done
 
Solemn men step forward
transfer the casket to the hearse
family and friends que in their cars
the last ride begins
 
The Old Bailey waits
quietly watching, receiving
Earth is open
the casket eases down
The black silk soil tumbles in
 
Little moments come our way
like tucking in a little one
lovingly smoothing a blanket
to cover them just so
 
Selah
 
Lin, 1/2013  Farmer Bill Maxwell, RIP 

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Tucked InLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:12-04:00

Spike and Dunk!

Games have their moments
In volleyball it’s a spike
the ball sizzling straight
to the floor and a score
Yea!  All right!
and in basketball
when an arm arks down
and the ball is slammed through the net
Swoosh!  Yea!  All right!
 
Doesn’t life carry those moments too?
In a movie theatre somewhere
a young man slips his arm out
to carefully capture the shoulders
of a willing young lady…
A groom kisses a bride
sealing the deal, launching a marriage
A mother holds her child
a father does too
A person senses God
loves them, even them
 
Exclamation points
in the story of lives, of living
of knowing

Two young princes
of the kingdom Serendip
were out upon their quest
along their highway things happened
Spikes and Dunks, I think
that were much greater
than what they sought after
thus we have a word
serendipity
to capture a happening
unplanned, yet believable
 
Indeed, we have Christmas
to detour from normal
stop
recognize
God’s spike, God’s dunk
serendipity
 
But wait!  There’s more!
 
Lin 12/15/2012 

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Spike and Dunk!Lin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:12-04:00

Palmer House Morning

Early morning quiet
as I walk a long hallway
Murmuring sifts from some doors
as I pad softly past
The farmers have come to town
two thousand
to stew their policy, ideas,
and surface direction for another year
 
Couples long together
are working their get up routines
teams, pulling together
raising families, crops and livestock,
they feed themselves and 300 others
 
Push the button
ride the elevator down
street level
workers bustling in and past
the coffee shop full tilt
A young lady, perky,
ready to serve the java, the joe
Folks studying the morning papers
others punching phones, smartly
 
Up the escalators, off to work
some three hundred fifty folks
every county represented
Jacobs calls out:
“Adams three!”
“All here”, says the county president.
“A quorum present!” is declared.
The stenographer introduced
the silent one down front
whose finger fly as she concentrates, documents
“Education”, declares the worker bee.
“Line 24 amended to read…”
And so it goes for a day and a half.
 
In the back, in the hallways,
a steady flow of folks, greeting, visiting,
“You gotta minute?” And off they go.
Democracy in living color!
Grass roots ideas
being hashed out
formed into policy
and often into law

The men and women of Illinois Farm Bureau,
the families, young and old
do this once a  year
Lifetime friendships formed, molded,
by common values, goals
More than just jobs
farming is a lifestyle
It’s who they are
inside and out
 
The ideas flow
first like tiny creeks,
but joining others, amending, growing
becoming mighty rivers
carrying a mighty nation
‘from sea to shining sea’*
this land,
‘the astonishing rich soil of America’**
produces
food and fuel and fiber in abundance
 
Freedom
Faith
Capitalism
bound together, so strong, yet fragile
 
“Oh beautiful for spacious skies,
for amber waves of grain.
For purple mountain majesties,
Above the fruited plain!
America, America, God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good, with brotherhood,
From sea to shining sea.”*
 
Lin, 12/2012, Palmer House Chicago, Illinois Farm Bureau Annual Convention
 
*”America, the Beautiful”, text Katherine Lee Bates, music Samuel A. Ward
** George Will 

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Palmer House MorningLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:13-04:00

Sure Hands

In every nook and cranny
a particular pair of hands
turn a house into a home
You can guess whose hands!
 
I’ve watched them in the kitchen
hands on fine china
confident, touching with memories
of her mom or Gammy
toweling that precious bowl
The same hands wield a knife
chopping or shaping something just so
Ah, yes, they can stir a pot!
Or whip some cream
or roll out a crust for an awesome pie!
 
I’ve them in the sewing room
guiding a seam, making a garment
with love sewn in stitch by stitch
Those hands smooth a fabric
just so, to make it right,
for ironing or marking or cutting cloth.

I’ve seen them hold a slippery babe
lathered with soap the little crittur,
all wiggles,
but safe in mother’s hands
 
Sure hands, are they,
reaching out for my hand
linking us in communion, oneness,
in our walk down life’s highways
 
The spiritual claims, quite rightly,
“He’s got the whole world, in His hands,
Okay, but I’m thinkin’, one fine picture
of sure hands,
belong, quite rightly,
to the Lady of the House!
 
Lin, 11/2012
to Kay, 50 years down life’s highway together 

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Sure HandsLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:13-04:00

Streetlights on the Snow

Late last evening
Bundled against the cold
I stepped into a painting

I stopped in my tracks
To take it all in, a pleasure
Fresh fallen snow
Thin as a sheet blanket
Was skinned over the scene

Soft yellowed light
From street light globes
Snow diamonds sparkling
The old drug store restored on one side
A dime store on the other
Pick up trucks all white parked in lines
Like white horses waiting patiently

I broke into that world
Behind me friends breaking the silence
“Drive carefully!”
“See you soon!”
Engines grinding into life
Silence returning to Main Street.

Small town luxuries abound
If we but stop to absorb
Sip them in to savor
Lin
11/2012

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Streetlights on the SnowLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:13-04:00

Chicago, Yesterday and Today

A Frenchman made his way
into a great unknown
land, and more land,
lakes and rivers and native peoples
Westward on he went
discovering a land full of wonders
 
A great lake
and great lakes
like huge inland seas
fresh water, fish
here would be a place
where people could live
and well
 
Time passing
it came to be
my great grandpa settled there
working at a saw mill
making boards
making a city
a new life
far from tyrants and kings and queens
aristocracies unkind to people
Here, life was better
 
Wave after wave of people came
and the buildings grew thicker
and taller
til they became like stalagmites
reaching to the sky
sky scrapers, they called them
growing ever more tall
 
Box rooms built on box rooms
of homes and office spaces
served by small boxes on cables
lifting up, gliding down
the people sorting themselves
into their caves and places

Beneath the earth level tunnels serve
holding pipes and cables
feeding water (clean one way, used the other)
fuel and wires abound
trains come and go
loaded with folk by the thousands
 
On the streets cars and trucks and people move
pulsing here and there
rhythms and waves day and night
noise accentuated with sirens often
“Give over!” “Emergency!”
 
Where food came in wagons
it’s now traded through wires
Contracts are made, sold and bought
grains and cattle and hogs only on screens
numbers flashing all day long
prices established around the world
as dealers strike and call
 
Insurance and investments
banks and stores and restaurants
more sophisticated, complicated, all the time
more and more stalagmites for companies grow
Somehow all of it works!
 
Amazed, always, I visit there
in huge hotels
with others from around the state
sometimes around the nation
Swirling in with people from around the world
Mixing, sorting, doing our business
Then I go home
to the prairie
to nestle in my small place
the next person a mile away
The sky laid out for me to see
quiet
peace
 
Lin
11/2012 

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Chicago, Yesterday and TodayLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:13-04:00

Hangin’ in There

The Great Teacher
has his lines and sayings
His students know them well
so too, his family
 
‘Read the problem!’
Good advice.
‘You may find this helpful, along life’s highway’….
‘If yer gonna be a bear, be a grizzley!”
“Do it the easy way!”
But one comes to mind nowadays:
“I’m hangin’ in there!’
 
A lifetime of being prepared,
I mean really prepared.
Did his homework, superlatively…
Smart, focused, passionate, compassionate…
He’d walk quickly into his classroom,
push himself hard
let his students know he’d maintain hyperspeed
the goal, the exam, the goal:
“75 and alive!”
 
Life has its challenges,
and he knew it.
Most significant person in his life?
His mother, plus his wife.
Granny Perry was a saint
in every way I can think of
deserving respect
what a lady!
Shirl, or “S”
held her own
quite a lady too!
A baby girl
filled out his ticket
“Oddie”, or “Kayper”
his pride and joy
forever and a day

So now we arrive
at “Hangin’ in there!’
The best that he can do.
A very worn body
has slowed him down
put him in a chair
He’s still thinking
soaking up
newspapers, magazines,
and nightly Fox
Still calculating
keeping tabs
accounting, don’t you know!
 
Visitors come
each one cherished
they come and lift his spirits
Gone, they’re mixed with memories
‘along life’s highways’
 
Somewhere along the line
a wise person said it well:
“Invest yourself in people,
and in things eternal’.
Indeed he has, and does!
His family, his students, his friends…
Granny’s God, his God
each person  benefited
from his investment, in us. 

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Hangin’ in ThereLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:14-04:00

Morning After

Everything is different.
Everything, except one, is the same.
 
One is gone.
A very special one:
Dad
Grandad. 
“B” is for Barney.
Professor Perry
Colonel Perry
 
A pillar knocked over
like a domino
a long chain of events to follow.
Bring the family home
Put all else on hold
Do the mundane things
while numb
Lots of tears and hugs
Everything’s different
Everything’s the same…
 
The sun came up
just as it did when my step dad died
mom and I watching from the hospital hallway
The grass the trees, the fields of September
were for some moments put on hold
Our world paused
Our known ones remembered, reflected
 
Who was this man?
Whom did he touch
in life changing ways?
They came, to honor and remember
Many sent cards, many with notes
 
LIfe turned a corner
with Grandad’s passing
Everything’s different
Everything’s the same
 
Harry got a driver permit
Libby started school…again
Evie went for horseback riding
Keller ran and ran
Sam discovered lots more things
Joe remarked on it all

The grownups hit their sidewalks
pounding along life’s highways
The friends went back to their lives
as we are bound to do
 
Kay and I are now
the ‘older generation’
Suddenly!
So soon!
Imagine!
 
Up to us
to have perspective
be there at important times
Encouraging as Grandad did
a thousand times ten thousand.
Amazing (not) how his best lines
fit right in with Scripture!
 
A last day sharing
with his teacher grandson
he laid it out:
“If I could get my students
to believe in me,
they could believe in themselves.”
 
I know what he meant.
His reputation was know, established in living stone:
His word was truth. 
If the top teacher in the nation
said it
You could put it in the bank.
He said: “75 and stay alive!”
“All my students pass the exam”.
He wasn’t asking for perfection.
He knew mistakes would be made.
But the appropriate goal
was pass the exam.
 
Jesus said: “Come unto me,
you who are burdened and heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.”
and “Believe in me,
and you shall have life abundantly.”
 
So the students had their gateway exam
leading to profession
All of us need to address the question
the gateway to eternal life
“Who do you say I am?” said Jesus….
 
Selah,
Lin 10/2012
Professor Kenneth W. Perry, 1919-8 Sep 2012 

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After

The room stands quiet
returned to its former state
all the things carried in
are carried out, gone
 
The people
those who stood in front
those who played their music
and those who filed in
claiming chairs for a moment
have gone to their cars
and motored away
 
Quiet reigns 
 
In their hearts words are replayed
faces cross the mind screen
the family, the people
have come together to share
a passing
a moving away
moving on
 
The book of a life has been written
the touching part has slipped away
so now, we can only touch things they touched
but hugs are no more
forever
 
The structure of creation is such
that in our mind’s eye, in our heart of hearts
we still touch
and do
pleasuring in the memories
that will stay with us

Some fine days we’ll be together
family
sharing memories
laughing
choking up, tearing
it will be good
 
Thinking deeply
we’ll be aware again
there are seasons
We’ll hear a baby cry
hold a grandchild
receive a hug
Some young person will cross a stage
receive a diploma
A young couple, all decked out
will face each other down front at church
place rings
facing life together
Maybe we’ll see an older couple
walking down a sidewalk
holding hands
 
Springtime and summer
fall and winter
the trees, the grass, the flowers
all mark the days
they too, are passing
 
So we scratch the earth
plant some seeds
grow and flower
then begin to slip
returning to the soil
 
Selah, Lin 9/2012 
   74

200

AfterLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:14-04:00

Life: A Brownie with Ice Cream Laced with Chocolate

Professor Ken Perry knew how to live life
and live it abundantly
“If you’re gonna be a bear,
be a grizzly!” he told his students.
And so he lived.
 
Focusing was his forte
riding on passion…
and compassion.
 
So judge him on the outcomes:
Students who passed The Test!
Therein he set the standard:
raised the bar so high!
#1 and # 2 of 65,000 takers…
three times!
#1 or #2 a number of times…
Students in the top 10%…
Students who praised him…
for decades after the class, after The Test.
 
“75 and stay alive!”
“Let the Institute take you by the hand and walk you through the problem!”
“Read the problem!” (RTP)
“Don’t fight the problem!” (DFTP)
“Always question your answer!”
 
So he worked and lived
excelling in accounting
But out of the University eye
he excelled in another area:
Teaching nuclear warfare in the Army!
Colonel Perry did.
He could teach a two hour class
or a 48 hour class on the topic
to Army officers!

So he worked and lived
excelling with his family:
a daughter and five grandchildren.
Kings’ Island with the grandkids
he was ridin’ on “The Beast”
Sharing the thrill of a giant coaster
or sharing on a timid ride
to break a new one in.
 
Graduation brought a reward
a cruise in the Carribean!
What a blast they had!
 
Some eighty cruises shared with Shirley
a hundred eighty countries
On many of them dancing –
what a time they had!
 
So life was a brownie with ice cream
chocolate swirl on top
and now he’s off to heaven!
 
Selah,
Lin, grandad, not RIP, but Joy Unspeakable in Heaven
Kenneth W. Perry 

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Life: A Brownie with Ice Cream Laced with ChocolateLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:14-04:00

If You’re Gonna Be a Bear

Set yourself in your favorite chair
snuggle down and close your eyes
Now
In your mind’s eye
picture these slides
through a very long life…
 
A small house in a small Kentucky town
dogs and chickens, a cow and a garden
Family noises, kids darting here and there
the neighborhood like one big house
 
A small boy running
chasing, being chased
laughing with his buddy Ray
Older siblings, younger siblings
big families the norm
 
Next slide, school.
The little boy is sitting down front
close to the teacher’s desk
close to the blackboard
so he can see
(poor folks didn’t get glasses)
Teacher’s pet, earned
recognized as bright all along
 
Next slide, high school.
Football.  Strategy and the game
Focus the energy, the strength
give it your all
Block!  Tackle!  Run run run!
Quick and tricky is so much fun!
 
Next slide, drug store.
Friends come by
“Wanna come with us?
Goin’ over to Eastern,
to try out for the team.”
 
Eastern Kentucky College
Tryouts, football field,
standing and a watching.
Coach sez : “Here!
(pitches Ken the football)
Run past those two guys!
Give it a try!”
He did.  He won…
a scholarship to the college!
 
Next slide
a pretty coed.
Shirley Kimball
Cute as cute could be.
Smart.
Click!
Down the diploma aisle

Next slide, Lieutenant Perry, U.S. Army
“Take this test and we’ll test your mettle.”
Bingo! Top of the class!
Off to learn artillery!
Next stop Fort Knox and tanks:
Figure out rockets trajectory
do the math
We want rockets on tanks to hit their targets
Invasion in Europe is in the plans.
So he did.  They did.
and then down for a marriage license!

 
Next slide a little girl
cute as a button
daddy’s pride and joy
Kayper!  Bright and bubbling!
 
Next slide, a tiny grocery
proprietor
Athens, Ohio
Grad school classes
just for fun
A master’s degree in the making
 
Major shift!  Next slide:
down to Berea, Kentucky
Berea College
Ken Perry, teacher!
A tiny little dwelling home
 
Major shift!
Illinois!  Getting a ph. d.
Growing a legend program
the best
Accountancy, University of Illinois
Soaring!
 
“If you’re gonna be a bear…
be a grizzly!”
Give it all you’ve got.”
 
“If I can get my students
to believe in me,
I can get them to believe in themselves.”
 
They needed to think:
“This professor is awesome!”
“If Professor Perry thinks I can do it
I think I can! I’m gonna give it all I’ve got!”
 
So for a very full semester
he rode ’em hard.
Picture a herd of mustangs running
flat out
big cloud of dust behind
heading for the goal
 
“Read the problem!”
“Don’t fight the problem!”
“Always question your answer!”
“Let the Institute take you by the hand and walk you through the problem!”
 
They did.  They passed.
 
All along the way
“If you’re gonna be a bear”…
 
At 93, Kenneth Wibur Perry passed
soared one last time
his life here completed,
oh, did he ever pass!
 
Selah,  Lin 9/2012 

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If You’re Gonna Be a BearLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:15-04:00

Done…

We’ve done about all we can do:
 
We chose the seeds most carefully
from ten thousand possibilities
put the soil, under microscopes
and tested for its health
amended it, for maximum yield
 
We nestled the seeds
into warmth and moisture
watched them sprout, grow
to fine young plants
 
Watched for bugs, disease,
and mindfully sprayed where needed
honoring the soil and environment
 
So, we are done.
Each day the corn holds court
for whatever nature delivers
Temperature, moisture, wind
whatever
time goes by
 
Hunter gatherers roamed the earth
surviving, but in short years.
Along came farmers
who planted, cultivated, and harvested
saving seeds for food year round
surviving, better, but still with problems
nearly everyone had to be
a farmer

Then came knowledge
connecting, mothering nature
ah yes!
 
Our minds can study
learn, discern
how to make things better
 
Discover mode
lifts us higher
so one percent are farmers
freeing others for mankinds benefit
for doctors, and dentists and
ten thousand jobs to help each other
still, we need to eat
 
So a better seed gets planted
the soil is treated better, respected
the plants are encouraged, protected
and harvests grow
grains pour from harvesters to transports
trucks and trains and barges and giant ships
moving, moving, moving
from growing hands to hungry folks
around the earth, it happens
 
We’re all waiting
watching
done, til harvest
What will it be?
 
Selah, Lin
James 5:7 

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Done…Lin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:15-04:00

Letting Go

A plethora of thoughts
‘letting go’, surrounded
Pictures race across my mind
 
Of a little one
hangin’ on to mama’s leg
a shelter in the time of storm
 
Of a proud papa
kissing his daughter
giving her to her husband
 
Of airport scenes
parting folks
kisses and hugs
and reluctant goodbyes
 
Of dad, hand on the bicycle seat,
running alongside the precious one
letting go

Of mom and dad
in the doorway
watching a teenager, alone,
driving away to college
 
Toughest of all life’s lessons
is holding the hand
of a loved one slipping away
final breaths coming
stopping
a chapter closing
 
Letting go happens so often
apostrophes in life
we know keep coming
long rows of candles
one being lit
another being snuffed
all in a context
of The Light of The World.
 
Selah,
Lin 7/2012 

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Relief!

Days of hundred degrees
weeks with little to no rain
but the crops are hanging on!
 
Drummer Flannagan doin their thing
black blanket tucked under green crops
holding tight to subsoil moisture
 
So when the crops should look
like the unwatered yards in town
still, they’re growin green!
Soaking up the sun
converting elements to our next meals
Amazing!
We are blessed!

A cold front rolling through
has dropped the temps a lot
Evenings in the 70’s
soft breezes blowing
the roots are going down
deeper and deeper they sink
sipping on the nectar
that we are mostly made of
 
Leaves that were curled against the drought
are now unfurled, relaxed, relieved….
and so am I!
 
Waiting for real rain!
But sleeping better!
 
Selah, Lin 7/2012 

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Journey

The theme was mostly:
“We went with him”.
as we traveled along life’s highways
He certainly covered a lot of miles
And he always led the pack!
 
Like icing on our cakes
he flavored our lives in stories
take this one:
 
Finishing up a tour of duty
at an army camp in Kansas
a friend from Champaign asked if he
could catch a ride back home.
“Sure”, said Ken. “I like to get movin’ early”.
Three hundred miles down the road,
the friend asked if they might stop for breakfast!
 
He and grandma took cruises
sometimes taking grandchildren
Rewards for graduations!
Once he offered me a trip
join him to the Antarctic!
We did!
Guess who was first off the boat
first feet to hit the beach
Leading the pack as usual!
 
Oh, how he loved strategy for the journey
whatever it might be…
From his home to office, or doctor
quickest route?
In and out of the Assembly Hall
or the stadium
Seats chosen with purpose
quick in; quick out…

The final journey was in slow time
beginning with pushing a grocery cart
zipping around the store
then with his walker
keep pushing!
Know the limit, and be right there!
 
His counsel was much sought
and highly valued by us all
He gave it to us straight
but only if we asked.
What a treasure!
 
So many of his guiding principles
were in harmony with the Scriptures:
“If you’re gonna be a bear,
be a grizzly!”
(Whatever you do, do it as unto the Lord!)
“If I can get my students to believe in me,
I can get them to believe in themselves!”
Most thought he was the very best, bar none.
“So if the very best professor, who knows this stuff so well,
believes I can do, I think I can!”
How like Jesus, who taught to believe in Him,
and through him have life, and abundantly.
 
So he ran the race
passing the tests
boosting his students to pass theirs
 
Well done
Thou good and faith full servant
Kenneth Wilbur Perry
 
Selah, Lin 9/2012 

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Just a Sip

Half way through a marathon
a runner grabs a cup
a quarter inch or water there
No time to grab another
he throws it down
rushes on
the goal still far ahead
 
Ten miles down
sixteen to go
the runner knows it’s not enough
from top of head
to tip of toes
cooling sweat is soaking
 
Better than nothing
this ‘not enough’
yet the runner’s thankful
no way back
going forward
trained to do just that
 
Focus
Concentrate
set small goals
another drink is coming
somewhere forward
getting closer
every step, every minute

July is hot
July is dry
not much water can be expected
so crops and people reach way down
to find their drops of water
 
Shade’s an answer
for them both
a gentle breeze to boot
A crop ‘canopies’
people burrow, cocoon
conserving all they can
 
Just a sip feels so good!
We’ll take it!
Be thankful!
and
keep moving forward!
 
Lin July 2012 

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Sunshine

Early morning darkness
coffee, newspaper, coffee again
Waiting for the sun
to whisk away nights soaking
 
Straight sticks adorned with seeds
standing at attention
in long straight rows
waiting for the farmer
to whisk and sort and steal away
food
for man and beast
 
Soybean harvest
is one of waiting
soy seeds so tender, porous
they soak up dew defying
harvest on most mornings
 
So the farmers stir
and stir their coffee
and do those little things
that always need some doing

Come ten, come eleven
checking, testing
rubbing pods between toughened hands
come twelve
aieee! Come one…
and then we roar!
 
Clipping off the straight sticks
very close to earth
gathering in, sifting, sorting
treasuring seeds
pouring into trucks, into trains
into giant ocean going vessals
Food is on the move!
 
Come on sun!
I’m waiting!
 
Selah, Lin
9-2012 

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Little One

Indeed they are precious!
The little ones have been molded
Shaped to look like us
just smaller?
I don’t think so!
 
Each one, every one
is unique!
A combination, perhaps,
of mom and dad
and brothers and sisters
grandmas and grandpas
aunts and uncles…
the list goes on.
 
Maybe they’re like
a huge bouquet
all buds
yet to be unfolded
 
What a blessing
purest joy
to be a part, play a part
in witnessing the unfolding
flowering
 
How they breathe
How they move
Learn to look at us
smile, frown
laugh, cry

Squeeze our neck
nestle in
relax and sleep in our arms
Wrap tightly around our leg
 
Run with us
Play hide and seek
Walk with us, hand in hand
Run to greet us
Leap with abandon into our arms
Sit tightly beside us
in nervous times and place
 
Ride high upon our shoulders
King or Queen of the world!
Seek us out
above all others
when trouble comes their way
 
Around the world
we can watch them, study them
So many things in common
Maybe what we have is love
played out, lived out
right before our eyes….
 
Selah, Lin 9/2012
Dad
Bitsy,Jen,Andy,David,Kate
Grandpa
Harry, Libby, Keller, Evie, Sam and Joe 

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Little OneLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:17-04:00

Table

Significant women have made statements
regarding the importance of ‘table’.
Barbara Bush said it this way:
“The most important decisions in America
are made around the kitchen table.”
As always, Barbara’s wisdom was front and center.
 
Grandma Warfel
near pioneer
drew a line defining:
“True friends feet
have been under your table
and yours under theirs.”
 
The family table is always defined
with mom and dad in specific places
honored and respected, noted always
Throughout history
it’s just the same
 
Everyone has a place
to start
square, round, or long rectangle
no matter
 
How natural Jesus was
at the table head
how unnatural he arose
with towel and bowl circled round
washing each one’s feet

Not just his own
but also with others
he joined with them at table
and he speaks to us, each one,
inviting us to His table
 
Living water offered…
Bread broken for you, for me,
bread that nourishes forever…
 
Bridges are built, maintained
at table
 
“I’m so glad, I’m a part,
of the family of God.
I’ve been washed in the fountain,
cleansed by His blood.
Joint heirs with Jesus
as I travel this sod.
I’m a part of the family,
the family of God.”
 
Lin 10/2012 

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TableLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:18-04:00

Wet Air Morning

Leaves drifting down, early morning,
as I pop out the door to snag the paper
the air engulfs me like a big wet kiss!
a wet air morning for certain.
 
Soaking my world
the fields and grass are laden
humidity must be a hundred
A pin drop would make it rain!
 
Far to the south
the Gulf offers up its moisture
and winds duly christened travel
a giant swirl brings them here
to bathe the plains with life giving water
naturally
sufficient
to make this a garden
 
Lush, comes to mind,
in seasons warm
lovely, when cold
slides down in winter

Harvest will wait all morning
as the sun bakes the plants for plucking
Shed doors fly open, late morning
machines growl out
crawling like giant caterpillars
in the fields
Devouring,
spewing
sifting, sorting
pouring out the fruits of summer
 
Into the darkness the machines roar on
pushing against the night
then, moisture again, settles in
smothering plants and machines to silence
 
Another day of harvest
 
Selah,
Lin
Harvesting soybeans, 10/2012 

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Wet Air MorningLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:18-04:00

Grandpa’s Hands

High on my office shelf
sits a sculpture done in love
Albrecht Durer’s Betende Hande
a labor of love by a brother
for his brother who loved
 
Just this evening I came in
weary from a day of labor
hands smudged with grease and dirt
from a day of farming
Warm water flooded my cold hands
as I rubbed and soaped them slowly
rinsed, I dried them, and I paused,
I have my grandpa’s hands!
 
Not so surprising, really,
as fifty years of farming
have ever shaped and molded
young boy hands to older farmer
 
Tanned, marked with scars,
big strong hands from exercise
decades shaped and strengthened
Happy to have
all my fingers!
The bones grown bigger
they say that happens
my grip grown stronger
I can pull a wrench, lift a boulder,
shape and cut metal

My sister says
I AM grandpa Warfel
I’ve become him!
Well, I like that!
He was my hero,
my daddy sub
First memory is
sittin on his lap, driving a little tractor
(big then, small now!)
He and I had lots of races
he could run quite fast
(though now I know, only yards)
together we worked, side by side,
he coached me all along
We fed cows and milked them,
pulled weeds and built fences
Painted barns and fence post tops
Pleated rope from baling twine
Sat side by side in church
over on the far north side
Big Ben ticking away an hour
We chowed down grandma’s cooking
ate fresh veggies from the garden
butchered cows and pigs and chickens
Oh, a thousand, ten thousand things!
 
And now I have my grandpa’s hands!
 
Selah, Lin  10/2012
Grandpa in the mirror, age 71
Alfred Warfel, 1884-1954
Profile on the book cover…Grandpa looks like his Grandpa! 

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Grandpa’s HandsLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:18-04:00

Morning Moon

randpa rolled out at 0330
to do the livestock chores
Pitch the hay down
from the mow
shovel the grain
into cow shined troughs
slap the stantions
on the milk cows necks
and do the milking
 
The walk to the barn
only a hundred steps
was lit by stars that twinkled
and by the morning moon.
I wasn’t “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”!
 
The cattle knew we were coming
they greeted us in moo talk
even the cats had something to say
as they scampered along beside us
 
Walking back to breakfast
the moon still shone
pristine, in the dawn soft sky
The stock, the stars, the moon, the earth
go about their ways, a habit
while, in sharp contrast,
we can ‘know’.

Thinking about the past
and early rising grandparents
the present
and those whose lights are on
and the future
Who holds it?  How will it be?
We can wonder, dream and plan
 
Good morning Moon!
I’m on my way
to think and do a thousand things
I’ve never done before!
Hug my wife and out the door
to use my mind and muscles
to fix and fuel and operate machines
that gather in the summer’s bounty
Food, fuel and fiber are my business
People are in line waiting, expecting
and I
I will deliver
 
Selah,
Lin 10/2012 

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Morning MoonLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:26-04:00

Touch and Permission

An Asian culture posits a greeting
with hands at sides, and a bow
Another culture folks fold their hands together
prayer like, and do a head nod bow
 
Somewhere back in our ancestry
swords were often present
firmly gripped in one’s right hand
Noted by their absence
an empty hand was extended
to grip another person’s right hand
 
Touch
and permission
 
The pastor greets the flock
service ended, folk headed home
words offered, exchanged, with all
and hands offered, taken,
sometimes held in lingering, caring ways
 
The politician reaches out
shaking all the hands they can
moving, always moving
to shake someone else’s hand
Glancing touches
like a thrown rock skipping across the lake
 
A young man, a young lady,
sit side by side
signals passing
“Okay”
his hand grasps hers
with her permission
and the world becomes far away
two, on life’s highway
to becoming one….

A child lays abed
burning up with fever
a mother’s hand, cool, soft, gentle,
touches the forehead
the suffering somehow is relieved
 
Another child running
falls and scrapes a knee
Mom or dad picks them up and hugs them
and pats them gently on the back, soothing
and the pain softens steadily
 
Then there’s the leap across a chasm
and full blown hugs are done
Parents and children
and special ones, with permission
are hugged and held in abandon
Pausing, seconds really, in a lifetime
but oh, so precious!
 
We humans have a dimension
where only we can go
Minds and hearts combine to claim:
“He touched me.
Oh,He touched me…
and oh, the joy that floods my soul.
He touched me
and made me whole.”
 
Permission granted
 
Selah,
Lin, 10.2012 

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1882

Indeed, a long time ago,
but just ‘yesterday’ in history…
 
Great grandpa was a walking
Tolono depot just behind
Southwest into the prairie
what he saw was not a goldmine
but a ‘blackmine’
 
Soil soft on his footsteps
speaking to him in farmer tones
“This could be really good, really somethin'”
“This could be our home”.
 
So he bought a field in ’82,
and planted himself right there.
He quickly built a lean to
shelter against the winter
for great grandma and the kids.
 
A horse bought, and a sled
he trekked across the snow
Parkville, sawmill, boards he bought
for the first home to be built in summer.
 
Little great uncle Fred had a job
a ridin’ on that sled.
Last load coming home
he sat upon the lumber
waving a lantern at the wolves
who slinked along behind
 
First house built in ’83
great grandma was in heaven
but here on earth she worked so hard
supporting her man in the field
Monday’s she carried water
two buckets at a time
from the open ditch just north of the house
so Tuesday could be washday.
Too big a job, carrying water,
to do both jobs same day.
 
By and by great grandpa
happened to be nearby, when
in Tolono a rail car was in the siding
piled high with wooden barrels
Giant ones called ‘hogsheads’
were for sale that day
He bought one, and wagoned it home.
Buried it next to the kitchen
situated just so
a downspout from the house roof
could be directed in.
He piped it from the kitchen sink
aided by a handpump
great grandma could stand at the sink and pump
and carry the buckets no more
My grandma witness the first water
and then great grandma’s tears bore the message:
Happiness about a burden passed!
 
Seventy miles, to the south
John Delano Warfel settled
veteran of The War
the Buckeye native planted his farm
and raised a great big family
Little Alfred was born there
about the same time Ida was
on this farm
and thus begins another chapter
in ‘Farmers on this Land’.

The same young Illinois Central
that brought H.J. from Chicago,
brought Alfred up from Rose Hill
to the Tolono station.
That’s the same rail station, by the way,
where Abe Lincoln spoke his last words
on the way to Washington.
 
Some fifty years from ’82,
H.J. hung it up.
Moved into Sadorus
two miles to the west.
Took a little doing
to get great grandma there
several months went by
before she would give up
and follow him to town.
Alfred and Ida moved in here
the second generation.
 
Again war was to tumble
family plans and movings
’41 December, Pearl Harbor happened,
grabbing my folks and farming.
Hank, my dad, was called up,
and off he went to war
as John D. had some 70 years before.
Mom, my sister and I,
stayed anchored here on this place
as battle after battle waged
across the face of earth.
One year.
Two years
Three, then June, the sixth,
and Europe was invaded
Americans poured into France
my dad was among them, fighting
to push the face of evil back
One week
Two weeks
One month
Two
and then one more explosion
Captain Hank Warfel was no more.
Except in a metal casket, and some memories.
 
Skip forward thirty years
and his son came on the scene
to move into the house built
the year that he was born.
He came home, with his family,
to take up plow and planter
and harvest as his fathers did
Watch his children grow
 
Time, like soldiers, marches on,
and now the son,
the grandson,
the great grandson’s
 grown old
Seven decades and some change
his boots walked on this ground.
Babies grown, moving away,
making their way in the other world
but rooted in this soil
 
His song and theirs
is “The Song of the Prairie’.
 
Selah,
Lin 10/2012 

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Order in the Court!

Seattle, St. Louis…
Baltimore, Chicago…
waiting rooms the same
hallways polished keen
Great big buildings
many floors
folks in starched coats scurrying
 
America’s clinics hum along
patients in; patients out
patients, patients, all about
secretaries by the score
nurses on the phones
and then, the doctors
In
 
Women and men so educated
so focused
mountains of information in
sitting in front of a human
one person
to one person
one question:
“How can I help?”
There is order in the court!
 
And orders go out:
this test and that
lab and xray and more
digging deeper, deeper, deeper
for that nugget, that exclusive ‘click’
“This is the problem”
and “This is the solution”.

Orders go out again:
to the person
to the pharmacy
to the therapists
to the army of support
yes indeed, Order in the Court!
 
So life goes on
in a better fashion
all the while remembering
life is precious
and oh so short, determined
by birth and death
mountains and valleys in between
seasoned
measured
savored with perspective
 
“This is the day
the Lord has made!
We will rejoice
and be glad in it!”
 
Selah,
Lin 6/2012 

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Order in the Court!Lin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:27-04:00

The Blue Shirt Folk

I know a certain former congressman
now president of some colleges
whose trademark was a blue shirt
button down
Back and forth to Springfield
then back and forth to Washington
Blue shirt Monday
and every other day
 
Eastern preppies  uniform, I note
was khaki pants and blue shirts too
although stripes of blue came along
with Paisley ties and Herringbone tweeds
 
My grandpa and my dad
grew up in bibs of denim blue
with chambray shirts, long sleeves
Summer, winter
it didn’t matter
Hats and jackets changed
but blue shirts ruled the farms

Farm and Fleet and rural stores
still carry lots of the selfsame shirts
and lots of us still wear ’em
Protect us from the hottest suns
make the bugs try harder to bite
and keep the hay chaff out
protect our arms from scratches
Colder weather finds t shirts under
and sweat shirts over
but that blue shirt still rules
 
Maybe we’ve more in common
than sometimes people think?
Practical wear should be the rule
for those at work wherever
I’m happy in my work shirts
my brand, my label, my ‘flag’
 
Selah, LIn 6/2012 

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The Blue Shirt FolkLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:27-04:00

The Bitter Taste of Winter

Cold, they say, bitter cold!
And right they are!
The cold bites us, in many ways!
 
Noses and toes
fingers and ears
get nipped and painted red
Pay attention!
Our bodies say
this is not to my liking!
 
Frost bite, they call it
as winter chills and works on us
seeping in to gloves and hats
the wind burning our skin
eyes watering
tears freezing
oh, we are so cold!
 
Tis a bitter taste
winter gives us
yet, beneath the snow and ice
there’s good

We’re killing bugs!
Rebalancing nature acting
fighting back gainst insects
fighting back against diseases
winter bites and kills
those nasty critturs!
 
Thank you winter!
You’re saving me money
and helping me avoid
the use of poisons to kill those bugs
the use of chemicals to kill those weeds
that rob our crops
rob our foods, feeds, fuels and fibers!
 
So I’ll look for sugar
to sweeten winter
I’ll bet I’ll find some
somewhere!
 
Selah,  Lin Zero degrees and below 2014 

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The Bitter Taste of WinterLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:28-04:00

On the Move

Planted on a prairie hilltop
the highest spot around
the college has to grow
Engaging the community in learning!
Firm foundations abound
for buildings and for students
minds are stretched
and buildings sprout

A wing goes here
a wing goes there
students slip in, and fly away
that’s the Parkland Way!
A thousand students, two
then four then ten
and finally…
a front door to welcome them!

Thousands of feet
now ten,
thousands of feet! Over time,
two hundred sixty…thousand!
Oops! that means half a million people feet!
Borrowed rooms and buildings first
then spankin’ new buildings now forty
hundreds of thousands of building feet
of rooms linked in wings
a living, breathing place

From soils to stars
roaring engines to computer clicks
dogs and cats to people care
giving speeches and writing books
wind and fire and policeman training
pounding nails and welding iron
music and arts and theatre too
whatever needs are out there
the rooms grow, and serve the people

A place
investing in people
and things eternal
Buildings and minds still growing
and it is good.
Very good!

Lin, 5/2012

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On the MoveLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:28-04:00

Surrender

Twas a half century ago, this month,
I met a young woman,
who became my wife come December.

My life turned a corner
a big one
and I surrendered to her
and she to me

Ah, not 100 per cent at once!
Actually, I’m still working on it
but we’ve come a long way
Fifty years worth of trying
and getting better

Some forty years ago
I turned another corner
went forward, actually
and gave my life to Jesus
I surrendered again
Ah, not 100% at once
Actually, I’m still working on it
but I think I’ve come a long way
and getting better

Two thousand years ago
God came to earth in human form
the Son surrendered all
enduring all the evil the world could muster
he forgave
and proved His Godness
rising from the grave

Not the way of earth, surrender.
Conquer is our game
Conquer things, and conquer people
No
Surrender

A little bit of heaven’s revealed
when surrender rules the day
Picture a very small child
sleeping in mom’s or dad’s arms
nestled in, sleeping peacefully
safe and secure from all alarms

Other places God reveals
the peace that passes understanding
and we sense a greatness
a Creator
just a glimpse

Selah, Lin 4/12

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The Quiet Man

Hours I spent with him
some in heavy waters
some in lighter moments
He became a brother
He was almost always there
passionate in his being
so much so

He came to one board meeting
straight from being
a patient in the hospital…
Always alert, listening with energy
sometimes eyes a twinkling
I would catch that look
and know
something was cooking, coming

Often a humorous arrow
flaming to the heart
and laughter would fill the room
How many votes?
A thousand or two?
Thought through issues
discussed from different angles
But in the end agreement
a team player

Bodies wear out in time
so we come, with sadness
to final moments
but remembering
appreciating
the precious gift of life

We pause to give thanks
for those who were givers
going extra mile after mile
to do their part
share the loads
of living free

Freedom on earth’s constrained
by ten thousand things and more
but, passed, freedom is complete

From a humble dwelling here
to a mansion, with streets of gold
Paul Quinlan
Mansion builder, gold winner
now complete

5/1 Lin

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The Quiet ManLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:28-04:00

Rolling, A Song of the Prairie

Rolling
Big tractor wheels
taller than a man
carryin’ 300 horses
back and forth
back and forth
tilling the soil
planting the crop

A lazy swirl of dust
marks my way
Soil seeking heaven
…just like me
the way of earth
the way of man

Row after row
seeds of promise
nestled into the waiting soil
dark. warm. moist.
A trigger is kicked!
Life clicks!

Root down, spike up
seeking sun up, and food down
Creation is a symphony
all parts singing a song
Here it is before us:
the Song of the Prairie

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Rolling, A Song of the PrairieLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:29-04:00

Tree Hugger

A hundred thirty years ago
great grandparents settled here
Planted themselves
and then planted trees
Apple trees, pear trees
Osage orange and ash trees
The Osage Orange were windbreakers
cause the prairie sure had wind!
They made great fence rows
and nearly permanent fence posts
Some still line the boundaries

The fruit trees were very precious
cause sugar sure was high
so sweetness was very special
jams and jellies tasted mighty good
all through the long, cold, and snowy winters

Ash is a good hard wood
for making strong shovels and handles
and hand work was the way to do
The ash trees grew so tall
they seemed to touch the clouds
Strong winds served to do the pruning
broken branches made good fires
for cooking and for heating water
and heating the big old farmhouse

Over a century old now
my arms won’t reach around one
limbs way up in the trees
are big around as trees as well!
But time goes by
and nature has its way
to raise things up
and bring things down
We have the Green Ash Borer

The trees will die.

All of them.

I’ll have enough firewood
for a decade or more I’d guess
but it’s a sad sad time
to see them starve
from all their wounds
Fewer and fewer leaves
until the last leaf falls
and the tree stands sullen, barren

No leaves to greet me in the dawn
no shade for noonday sun
or evenings on the porch swing
no watching the branches lean
as strong winds shake the house
No place to hide the Robin’s nest
just lifeless wood
awaiting the saw, the axe
the fire I sit beside

As winters pass
I’ll stoke the fire
read my books and ponder
Bout how this is earth
with all its problems
and how there is a heaven

This summer I’ll hug each tree
give them my small blessing
thanking the Creator
for the century the ash trees gave us
and thanking for diversity
for oaks and maples and Hawthorns and others

Perhaps I’ll slice some boards from ash tree logs
and build some things to remember
Selah, Lin 4/12

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Working the Broom

The humble broom is a crucible tool
clean sweeping nooks and crannies
My mind is rich in pictures
of ladies working a broom!

I see grandma
with her broom corn broom
made by a certain blind fellow
down Tuscola way
Grandpa and I visited the guy
every now and then
I watched the man’s fingers fly
and he stitched the wad of strands
the product of a special corn
Grandma would work that broom
somewhere every day
inside the house and down the walk
I still see her chasing dust!

First morning in Japan
I arose and looked out the window
I saw Japanese ladies working brooms
sweeping their porch and steps
then the sidewalk on to the middle of the street!
Wow! Did they work their brooms!

Farmers had their pitchforks
handles and tines kept shiny
and farm wives had their brooms
to shoo away some critter
doin’ something nasty
“Out! Shoo! Shoo!”
I’d hear, knowing who would win
the ‘woman of the house’ for certain!

I had a certain uncle
who took it ‘pon himself
to keep us kids in line.
Somewhere in his past, I guessed,
his mom, my sweet grandma,
had used her broom on him!
His threat to us, on needed occasion, was
“You behave! Or your mom will…
work her broom on YOU!”
Terror! He had our attention!
We all knew
mom could work that broom!

Progress has come to many things
but the corn broom has survived!
Plastic tries, but cannot win
we still have the same old brooms
and farm wives still
know how to use ’em
Shudder!
Better behave or else….

Selah, Lin 4/12

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Working the BroomLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:29-04:00

Pain Full Memories

Life can bear down hard
slapping us, jerking us around
War brings horror over the top
so tough
experiences can’t be spoken
But they are remembered
though they’re buried deep

Sometimes decades later
the ice is broken
and they come out
December 7, 1941
a ‘Day of Infamy’
when thousands died
and more were injured
memories planted deep
June 6, 1944
Normandy
the greatest armada of all time
paratroopers landing
ships pouring soldiers onto beaches
bodies floating in the surf
the beach a graveyard

150,000 invaders
coming coming coming
in some outfits
9 of 10 died
but in others, most lived
to fight
memories planted deep
pain full, memories

Somehow people went on
to come home, to live,
raise families, work
The painful memories pushed back
pushed down
but very much there.
Ours to listen, to care,
to ask ourselves:
“What did we lose?
What did we win?”

What We Lost, and What We Won*
Will we remember
the world at war
Army’s marching
aiming, shooting
shells exploding
cities smashed
families dreams as well

What we won
can be measured
Freedom, from tyranny
cruel insanity
a madman was in charge
madmen came to help him
evil was set free
people died in ovens
in concentration camps

Jewish men in a line
pressed together, front to back
shot to see
how many could be killed
with a single bullet

American soldiers eaten
on far off Pacific Islands
Some sacrificed their lives
Some suffered wounds forever
and some came home to
The Land of the Free,
and the Home of the Brave…
We helped win freedom
to live and grow and be
in this land of opportunity

Sustained by God
we have gone on
that is what we won
Men and women working
worshipping freely
raising families in peace
not even locking doors
children playing into summer nights
friends visiting, laughing, talking
a generation, then two, then three
free to come and go
A handful now, in uniform
vigilant, on guard, protecting
Then, every family was touched
someone in uniform
everyone purposed:
Stop Adolph Hitler
Stop the Emperor’s minions
Stop the world, from going insane

What we lost was half a decade
millions of people and more
“Maybe we will not remember,
what we lost…
and what we won…”*

Lin, 4/2012
*Listen to Ben Bedford, writer, singer,

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Pain Full MemoriesLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:30-04:00

B is for Blankie

A little guy I know
has to have his B
to feel the world is right
With it he can sleep
let the world go away

A common thing
this blankie time
for little ones round the world
Something about a softness
a shield
to sense the world’s in place

Late winter, early spring,
last year’s corn stubble does its thing
capturing the blowing snow
trapped, it is a blankie, a “B”
protecting winter wheat

Often falling silently in the night
it piles like feathers over the fields
gently tucking in the rich black soil
something about a softness
a shield
to sense the world’s in place

The corn stubble, so stiff and strong
mellows with the moisture
freezing, thawing, soaking in
the melting snow
the blanket comes and is pulled back
over and over again

Soon enough machines will roar
and till the earth to plant
but just now rest
sleep well
all is well, all is well

Lin, late winter snow blanket 2/2012
Joe Warfel and his “B”
I remember tiny Harry, with his blankie pulled up over his face, only two little hands showing gripping the top edge of his blankie….
Not to mention his mom…, and her blankie! Or Kate!

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B is for BlankieLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:30-04:00

What Hath the News- Gazette Wrought?

The president moved amongst the crowd
“Helloing’ here and there.
Handshakes, smiles, friendly comments,
a welcoming on all sides.

Up two steps to the speakers platform
stepping up to the podium, the mike,
he looked out upon the moving sea
listened to the voices
watched the people moving, mixing
These folks like each other!

“Good evening!”
spoken once
spoken twice
a few folks find their seats
but the waves continue
greetings abounding
The president studied some more
and saw, it was good:
These folks enjoy each other!

Farm leaders and spouses
people who’ve risen tall
carrying the ball in many ways
plays writ out large in lives lived well
living well
Tested by storms and drought
floods and markets
government kerfluffles
the vagaries of life
they’ve taken their blows
and risen

Compounded, winner after winner,
selected by peers,
the News Gazette brings them together
to add another, once a year
Forty years coming
people with faces gather
honoring each other and a new one
comfortable in who they are

Finally, they’re all seated
and the program begins
Recognitions, a video
and the honoree speech
Well done,
good and faith full servant
The News-Gazette!
It works!
Lin 4/2012 Farm Leader of the Year Award Banquet

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What Hath the News- Gazette Wrought?Lin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:30-04:00

Yes! Easter!

The wrenching of cold
Broken, crashed, by Easter!

It was mankind broken
at its worst
celebrating in evil
unjust accusations
warped trial
a sentence all wrong
the season of “Hosanna!”
gone wrong

No surprise the earth shook
no surprise the sky darkened
they won
He died

But!

God had a plan
much bigger than man
God IS over all
including death

What horror at man’s sin
yet God’s grace triumphed
over sin
over death

He arose!
He lives!
Hosanna forever more!

Easter 2012, Lin

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Yes! Easter!Lin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:30-04:00

Little Angels

“Except ye come as…”
begins a well known statement
about the kingdom of heaven

We get little packages
in the most personal of ways
results of brief encounters
resulting in new life, birth

The little ones grow quickly
we count them weeks at first
then months
then oh so soon, in years

They grow in our hearts
in places we didn’t know we had
but become stamped so firmly
we savor moments with them always

From their first recognition
smiles
laughter
querulous
to first ‘their heads nestled in our necks’
to riding on our shoulders
to racing some short distance

They trust us
so beautifully
sleeping in our arms
on our laps while we read together

What gifts they are
our task is to ponder
and learn
and be
like them, tender in special ways….

Selah Lin, 3/2012
to Sam and Joe and Libby and Harry and Evie and Keller, Malia and more!

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Little AngelsLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:31-04:00

Concert Time

The sun season has changed
and our air is springtime
first blushes from plants seem rushing this year

An abrupt shift from winter
a mild one it was
so the warming sun has clicked
and plants come to heel

Swelling buds
tiny leaves
grass yawning and stretching
then racing to be mowed
farmers and gardeners itching
pulling on gloves
scratching the soil
humming of insects
chirping of birds
it is, indeed, concert time

The whole earth has turned
and nature is glorious
Spring is surging all round
oh, what a time!

Won’t you come celebrate
take a moment, step back,
and nestle in nature
and the Creator, of it all?

Birth, new life remind us
touching all senses
that design was purposed
and so are we.

Lin 3/2012

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Concert TimeLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:31-04:00

Country Folks

Meandering up country roads
I did my best to soak
A beautiful spring day
blue sky, cumulous clouds
fresh green grass and budding trees

I zig zagged near a river
heading back to the farm
The woods were dotted black
with Angus cows a grazing
lazily munching along
safe and secure on the edge of woods

Easy to find the rivers
here in central Illinois
as woods line their pathways
One farmstead, then another
Well appointed homes, aged,
and neatly kept barns and sheds
Not a painting, real
Real places, real people
Secure in who they are
Breathing in the people
I know their names and faces
Soaking up the places
centennial farms planted

I got my arms around them
and I was blessed
To be a part
It is good
And I am grateful
to know and be known
by them
Page Two
Maybe we were sculpted
by some special soil
(in truth, all soils are special!)
but I do know the soils are part
of what we do each year

We touch them, feel them
waiting for warmth to mother seeds
We scratch and till them, tile them,
and cover them with blankets green
They give us food, and fuel, and fiber
to feed, power, and clothe us
The farms are laced with tools
shiny handled shovel
our hands have polished often
Shiny door handles, gate latches
where we’ve touched them often

My grandpa’s hammer
his much prized scoop
a shovel made for grain
I still have, on the shop wall now,
a little simple stool I sat on
when growing up
to sit and milk the cows!
My bride has grandma’s hoe
sharpened by the soil
the metal half the original

Prized tools all
loaded with memories working
Countless animals have trod the fields
mooing, voicing their messages
while I in jest, mimicked them and laughed
I helped to birth them, feed them,
raised them to be shipped away
They did their part

We, the people,
do our part as well
Drawing together the best
of knowledge, research, progress
bout seeds and breeds and tools and more
To tune ourselves to nature
and nature’s Creator, God
Come Sunday morning quiet
a different day for us
set aside

like the Good Book says
“Even during planting and harvest,
work (only) six days.”
Families pile into cars
and make their way to church
to sing, to pray, to study on the ways
laid out for all mankind
Amen, and amen,

Selah, LIn 3/2012

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Country FolksLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:31-04:00

Happy Tears

We humans are strange folks
our emotions try to prove it!
When pain comes our way
if it’s big enough
we cry

Warm tears flood from our eyes
as though the bad can be washed away
somehow, it does help
Does anyone know how?

Today I’m thinking of the other sort
the tears that flow from ‘happy’
Very, very happy!
Good! Very good!
Oh, so good!

A famous Army general
broke the ice with his comment:
“I don’t trust a man who doesn’t cry!”
This from a very tough guy.
So we now have license, we men!

I cried okay when a child
little boys were often admonished
‘Big boys don’t cry!”
I took that to heart.

At three decades I turned a corner
and gave my life to Christ
to be my Lord, my Savior.
Maybe you can guess what happened?
I cried.

So, for forty years now,
for exceeding happy
for sad and tender
I can cry.
And it’s okay.

50 years ago come April
I met the girl who married me.
50 years December
we’ll pause to celebrate the wedding.

I’ll bet the happy tears
would fill some buckets now!
Precious, the word,
has grown and grown
I put strong arms around the thought
and then around her
and I cry
little warm tears

Happy tears……

Lin 3/2010

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Happy TearsLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:31-04:00

First Whiffs

Cold iron moves from shed
on stiff rubber tires

A disk blade or spring cultivator
eases into the rich, loam soil
and the farmer gets a first whiff!

There’s that stirring in the memory
of communion with the soil
and all the things a farmer does
to raise the plants that feed us
clothe us
fuel our machines these days
Do you have a favorite ‘whiff’?

Fresh bread smell wafting through the house?
Apple pie on the counter?
Pot roast with onions, carrots and potatoes?
Roses or apple blossoms

Oh so many wonder full whiffs!
How about the rain freshened air
after a sweet summer rain?
How about baby shampoo
on your precious baby child?
Or fresh brewed coffee in the early morning?

Bacon frying
Hamburgers on the summer grill?
Fresh mown hay some summer day
a field of clover, in full bloom?

Are we blessed or not?
The farmers and the gardeners
are out and doing their toil
I’m thinkin’ there should be a symphony
playing in the background
some singers humming quietly
along with the robin’s tunes

Selah, Spring, 2012 Lin

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First WhiffsLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:32-04:00

First Light

It’s a magic moment
in my day
when I see the eastern sky
first light is beckoning
every day is different

Night time clouds
darken areas
but one knows the sun is coming
Rather we are spinning towards it
our earth rolling around
it will be our turn

To think, to do
a thousand things or two
eating, reading, planning,
on the move
blended with quiet moments

Just this moment I’m captured
remembering
watching the sun come up, holding
Evie, newborn grandchild,
while her mom is busy in the kitchen
Evie and I watch, but have to turn
as the sun gets brighter and brighter still

The sun in the sky
grandchild in my arms
what a special memory!
Now she’s nine
a young lady
blue eyed with long blonde hair
playing the violin

First light a reminder
that I am still here
and have a purpose
however small
to take the gifts I have been given
investing myself in people
and things eternal

The Light came into the world
and it is not the same
because He lived, and lives
His example Living Words
that need to be
in me.
Small, small me.

Wonder….

Lin sunrise, 2/2012

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First LightLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:32-04:00

Dashes and Marathons

What a gathering!
Folks up to their tasks
so different!
Some primed and
“Ready! Set! Bang!”
and others, standing at ready,
relaxed
going to run the marathon….

From 20’s to 80’s in ages
growing up in eras so different
music and styles far apart
yet here they were
captured for a moment
at a Farm Bureau directors meeting

A heartfelt prayer by the octagenarian
appreciative of those who keep us safe
and have, each generation
Grounded in faith
ever so full of thanksgiving
a tender moment

Young Ag leaders
jumping in, eyes flashing
energy pouring at eight in the evening!
Facing the present and future firing
thinking solutions, actions, wow!

Those in between solid
carrying their loads with grace
making mountains, climbing mountains
families growing, getting taller
school and church and a million things
swirling around those folks
and they’re moving steadily forward

Over all, in all, and out in front, tomorrows
the faithfulness of the Creator is
the I Am has been there
and is here
the future is still in God’s hands

These hands around the table
are the hands that bathe the children
drive the tractors
type on the computers
pull the wrenches
lift the loads and carry
Indeed, move with the earth

The moment passes
and the folks hit the roads to home
doing the dashes
and the marathons
making the world
our world
a better place….

Selah, Lin 2/2012
Champaign County Farm Bureau

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Dashes and MarathonsLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:32-04:00

Enchanting Land

It happens ever so often
I stop, realize,
the scene before me
this place where I live
is simply, profoundly
enchanting

First light last night’s snow
slipped lightly on the trees
has marked, outlined
winter gray branches
down to the tiny twigs
snow rests
not even clinging
just lofted down quietly
as if it is sleeping there

With the dawn a little breeze
makes it look like its snowing
but only from the tree tops down!
Enchanting….

Just the other day
we awakened to the Hoar frost painting
roadside weeds glistened in the sun
trees and bushes were wrapped
in Christmas wrappings
all white
closer looks saw
chrystaline shapes
so fragile
laced so finely
Soon the morning sun appeared
and chased it all away
back to winter’s gray!

Nighttime frigid air
driving along a terminal moraine
I could see for miles and miles
sharp black night pierced by stars
high in the sky and across the prairie
the night lights of the farmsteads
all quiet
the earth and me, so small I
so magnificent the scene

The Creator is indeed
everywhere
If we just stop to see, to listen
There, all of the time….

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Enchanting LandLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:32-04:00

Winter Snows

A skiff, a flurry,
a snow storm, a blizzard
we have them all
on the prairie!

For cash grain farmers
the same applies
to meetings during winter!

The constant change, in agriculture
drives us to always be learning
So, when winter comes
so do meetings
and they come like the snow

Computers help
an enormous boost
to be in touch almost daily
with colleges and universities
and providers galore
with information

This is they age,
some say,
of ‘information’
where knowledge is the new wealth
Genetics, computers, GIS and GPS
in skiffs, and flurries
in storms and blizzards
available!
Blowing about us!
Swirling around us!

Machines and markets
policies and government
sometimes all combine
to bury us with information
so, we sift and sort through meetings
all winter, except Christmas week.

What a ride!
A ‘slay’ ride wherein we
slay the dragons that oppose us
Diseases, weather, bugs,
Regulations storming at us
We face them all….

Ah, come sweet spring
and the planting
time again on the tractors
sowing the seeds
in the mother earth
rich black loam inviting
warm sun beckoning
we do it again!

Communion
with creation, and the Creator,
what a combination!
Blessed, we are, to be
Farmers
simple farmers
Right?

Lin 2/2012

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Winter SnowsLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:32-04:00

Beyond the See

We humans have a place
a way beyond the see
treasures there abound
to savor and enjoy

The land of beauty
surrounding us
unfolds in seasons grand
summer foliage
winter whites
frosted window panes
springtime flowers
fall colors shouting
Cars and quilts
and thousands of things
that somehow pleasure our see

Then there’s love
somewhere mysteriously in us
making it possible for two
to become one
How can that be?
The something that we call heart
knowing it’s not really
but somewhere in our brain
‘the greatest of these is love’
and we know it’s so

And friendship
again, that links us
wraps us in bindings
that set us free
how can that be?
Oh what a foretaste
of glory divine…

See so often
becomes simply, property
important, yes
but with it we are all but tenants
never really owning
just passing through
receiving, possessing for a while,
then letting loose

We see words
on a page, filling a book
and thoughts swirl in our minds
about the unseen
yet we know is there
and life settles into mysteries

O love, that wilt not let me go…*
and What a friend we have in…**

Selah, Lin, 2/2012
*George Matheson, Albert L. Peace, “O Love That Will Not Let Me Go”
**Joseph M. Scriven, Charles C. Converse, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”

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Pasture Lessons

Grandpa had a lot of cattle
a hundred forty head or so
and thus the pasture lessons!

Along life’s highway valued flags
to sift and sort some wisdom

Cowpies always favorites!
Dried, they made nice campfires
wet, like polka dots
we learned to step around them
lesson one:
cowpies happen

Nature has its ways, you see
(and smell, don’t touch)
Cows drink water
by the gallons
eat grass and hay and therefore
four stomachs later
the mixture passes out
Ker PLOP!
A pie!

Lesson two:
when playing baseball in the pasture
interesting bases are made
plain and clear they lie there
beckoning to the runner
Run TO them,
but don’t step IN them!
Hmmmmm.

Lesson three:
All things created
have their uses!
Ours is to discover
Cowpies are quite valuable
mixed in garden soil
tomatoes do quite well
in the natural food for plants
Pure organic
is the sell

When the worst thing happens
as when we forgot to look
Soap and water do the trick
more serious things will come
but we’ve been tempered
with the yuk!

Plod on, my friends, knowing
you’re the wiser
for learning pasture lessons
farm talk, yes,
we’ve lots
to poke our thoughts with humor….

Lin 2/2012

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Stacks Attack

Some folks have ’em
some folks don’t!
I’m amongst the chosen few

One might say
we all are witnesses
to the capture of piles of stuff
and not all are bad, you see

Haystacks in a summer scene
bode winter food
for cows and horses and their needs
Stacks of money
aren’t that bad
especially if the money’s yours!

The stacks at libraries
speak treasures of words
inked for posterity, valued
treasured, for memories
and researchers looking

Warehouse stacks
forklifts working
move ’em in and out
sorting what goes where
always moving

Stacks of laundry
stacks of papers
stacks of magazines and more
piles on desks and chairs, oh my!
Now we’re sinking down

End of day
a cleaned off desk
is a mighty precious thing
Going home
all in order
the bare desk calls out loudly
Free!

Lin, 2,2012

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Stacks AttackLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:33-04:00

Wounded Hearts

Scientists search
but can’t find
exactly all the human dimensions
What we call ‘heart’
a case in point.

Neutrinos zoom
faster than light
continuing to amaze
and puzzle

Photons gather
yet appear in other places
continuing to amaze
and puzzle

Along life’s highway
babies are born
are locked in love for lifetimes
continuing to amaze
and puzzle

Death comes too
searing our hearts
landing with a thud
and breaking in to capture
hold us fast, in still motion
trying to grasp some meaning
understanding

“No two hundred year old saints’
my doctor friend is wont to say
and yes, we all know it
in our minds

Yet in our hearts we struggle
reaching back
drawing deeply
for the things that hold us

Music helps
soothing, giving vent
to warm tears
running down our faces
Hugs from friends and family
connections, heart to heart
sharing loss

Somehow in another dimension
one we cannot see, for now,
we sense a standing place
firm, above and beyond
the here and now

There is an empty tomb
there is a risen Savior
and He’s in the world today
walking, talking, along life’s narrow way…*

Lin, 1 Feb 2012
Easter Comes

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Wounded HeartsLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:33-04:00

Gatherings

A century ago
here in Champaign County
a small group of farmers assembled
America, this is
where freedom of assembly
is a law of the land

Farmers and their land
a communion of sorts
people combing and brushing
seeding, tending and harvesting
soil, intellect, and labor combining
to grow the things that feed us

Ideas passed among them
How to do this better?
What do we need to…?
I think WE can change this!

Man faces here
some on their own
others pushed forward by spouses
together, an association was birthed
The “Illinois Farmers Institute”

Dekalb County, Kankakee County,
and Champaign County caught the scent
June, 1912, the words ‘Farm Bureau’ appeared
in an add, The Urbana Daily Courier.

The catalog company, Sears Roebuck,
sent a thousand dollars
Seed money, in need of match,
to hire a special person
a crop and soil expert
to help the local farmers

Two hundred and fifty people
mostly farmers
put their dollars on the line
the rest, we say, is history!

Today some ten thousand county people
have put their names on a line
and joined Champaign County Farm Bureau
each a part of gatherings
for services wanted, met
through the hands and arms of people

Fertilizer, chemicals, seeds,
information gatherings, socials,
through the pain of the Great Depression
people saw the need to gather
combine their knowledge, come together,
forming companies.

Country Life, insurance company,
a creamery association
and a ‘service company’
to bring to farms the gas and oil they needed.
Illini Electric Cooperative, and Production Credit,
and Grain Association
ten companies, all together
moving progress forward
through the worst of times
into the best of times

This year marks one hundred years of gatherings
to bring soil, intellect and labor together
Now we pause, remembering, rededicating
to keep it going
make it even better
this day and tomorrow

Happy One Hundredth Birthday
Champaign County Farm Bureau!

Lin, 1/2012

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GatheringsLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:33-04:00

East 80

Of course
a centennial farm has history!
memories scattered across a century
Each field has pictures
snapped and kept
in someone’s mind, to savor, ponder

My 80, she called it
Ida Augusta Bialeschki
who married a hard working guy
Alfred Warfel was very well known
as a premier hard worker, smart
Why, he could shuck a hundred
ears of corn in a day
working from dawn to dusk
A trader, par excellence
of anything to do with a farm

The east 80
lies east to west
along the Sadorus road
a little rolling, some flat spots
ponding is a problem
dark soil and lighter
you know a glacier was there
by rocks, found annually
rising from winter’s freezing, heaving

As a little lad
I worked with grandpa
forking up the hay
riding the hay rack home
Grandpa was fond of contests
races, if you will,
like when me and Francis (Butler)
tried to beat him
pulling millet
one end of the field to the other
Grandpa won, just barely
I think he strung us along!

The east end
held a school
gone before my time
except for well, standing alone
complete with pump and handle
Time was, grandpa plowed
round and round he went
stopping each round
to pump some water
for a leaky, ailing tractor
Awesome, his persistence
to save a nickel or dime

Cousin Dale and I
too little to lift a bale alone
would work together hoisting
a bale of hay up to the wagon
finally getting a load
Hard work, but we did it
laughing all the way
with grandpa loving us

With grandpa’s passing
a hedge row went
a bull dozer worked for days
Osage orange burns so hot
snapping and popping
sparks flying, fire roaring
all the trees were gone.
A life cycle completed
grandma and her sisters
watered the little trees
great grandpa planted
to break the wind
make a fence
yield longest lasting posts
For 60 years they did that
then went away for good
Four more rows of corn
where thorny trees once stood

My older kids remember
starting their farming there
learning about inputs
in order to have outputs, yields
marketing corn and beans

A year ago a feller
rode a scraper moving
back and forth
back and forth
carrying, distributing
carving out a path
for water to get away, smoothly
The curvy pathway marked in green
will let the water flow
let the crops grow nicely
and hold the soil so precious

Now I’ve farmed it 40 years
and this year’ll mark a generation
grandsons helping me
pick up rocks
like me and grandpa
and Francis Butler

Selah, Lin 1/2012

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East 80Lin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:33-04:00

Time Was*

Time was
there was a treasure
buried in a field
One wise fellow
sold all he had
and bought the field
and so bought the treasure

A special farmer story
the wise ones know
and then invest themselves
in the treasured fields

Gerald Compton did that
I know
His family
his faith
his farming
his friends

His time here
went into those fields
I’m thinking he was a treasure
invested in us all

In his passing
those fields pass to us
to walk in the footprints he made
to carry on
savoring knowing him
and being known by him

Some might picture
a red carpet rolled out in welcome
We might see emerald green
Corn, soybeans,
waving in a summer breeze
Wheat fields, hay fields
so beautiful
all leading to a smiling welcome
“Well done, thou good and faith full servant.”

Selah, January, 2911
Matthew 13:34
*For Gerald Compton, Gentleman

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Time Was*Lin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:33-04:00

Father

For some folks
wave after wave of memories
wash upon our lives
Indeed, I’m getting older!

Sometimes gentle
from childhood times…
I remember my step dad
lugging me up to bed
I was nine
and car travel made me sleepy
Good guy that he was
his strong arms scooped me up
and he carried me up the stairs
tucked me in

Many were the times
Sunday dinner finished
we sat at table and talked
debated, taking sides,
then half time
changed sides
and began again!

We spent a lot of time
our heads under a hood
looking at car engines
changing plugs and points
and other things
or lying on our backs
repairing u joints
or a hundred other things beneath

Special times were building
we lived in a good old house
frame solid, but needing change
to hold a growing family
We always talked when working….

Along life’s highway I grew up
bounded out of college, married,
and started my career
farming
24/7 at first
not knowing any better
He got tired
went home to rest
and I went on
day and night
His forte was patience
with me

We plowed and tilled and planted
tended and then came harvest
sun up to sun down and longer
we brought the harvest home

Bumps and bruises
we both got
and sometimes a cut
we repaired, went on
task oriented
clear objectives
gulp down learning
do it better
keep up with the neighbors!
We were friends

Old age came to him
in Parkinson’s
the strong arms lost their strength
the legs wouldn’t function
bit by bit
his body failed him
then failure captured his mind

Finally, one long night,
I sat with him from midnight on
pneumonia squeezing his lungs
each breath so hard
I held his hand
patted him
and talked a lot of memories
The eyes closed
he labored on
then stopped
was still
except for a heart still beating
On and on it went
I called a nurse
Kind, she held his other hand
then he was gone

I hear him laughing
I hear him talking, debating
I remember our wrestling
So many things…

I attest the words:
“Well done,
thou good and faithful servant,
welcome home…forever.”

Lin, 1/2012
Master Sargeant Charles Joseph Clementz
Step dad

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FatherLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:34-04:00

Christmas Rounds

“All is calm,
all is bright
Round yon virgin mother and child…”*

There comes a moment, Christmas eve,
late at night in our house,
when the little ones sleep
and the packages are set
as well as the plans

The rounds have been made
to gather the gifts
the food is all waiting
to come to the table
and the mother sits
thinking
reviewing

What a swirl of busy-ness
attends the Christmas season!
Practices and pageants
special services at schools and churches
vacations from schools and days off at work
Circling, swirling to this moment
when the mother ponders….

Once a year comes this time
when stores close
cold and silence settle in
The Christmas lights are prolific
shining in the dark night
lawn displays, Christmas trees
the star of David high on buildings

Wise men pondered
(and still do)
the event that marks our calendars
and our lives
‘O holy night’…

Two seasons lift music
to the highest realms
Christmas, and Easter
voices and orchestras soar
with the greatest offerings known

So, tonight, we pause
recognize
the attraction and bonding
brought by a baby
God’s gift to us

‘Sleep in heavenly peace,
sleep in heavenly peace.’*

Selah,
Lin
Christmas Eve 2011
“Silent Night, Holy Night” (Stille Nacht), Joseph Mohr, Franz Gruber

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Christmas RoundsLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:34-04:00

Streets of Gold

Along life’s highway
are many changes
Ups and downs and curves abound
Day and night and twilight too
mix the days as we live along

Bits of gold are here and there
but certainly not the norm
as not all that glitters
is really gold

Ah, but life can be good!
Christmas and Easter
Thanksgiving and parades
Graduations and weddings
lace our lives with happiness

Discovering the opposite sex
and all that comes thereafter
can be a life of golden moments
We even cap the 50 years
as ‘golden anniversaries’….

The peak of world athletics
might well be: ‘go for the gold’
at the Olympics
gold measures the mettle, acclaims it proudly

The Good Book paints the picture
of a place of many mansions
and having ‘streets of gold’
Ah, the ending is another beginning
in the twinkling of an eye we are changed!

Take note, please,
we’ve been alerted!
A bride and groom march down the isle!
A baby is born!
There are graduations!
And finally, a celebration of life is held….

Set your sails!
Hold the course!
Head for the streets of gold!

Selah, Lin 1/2012
In memory of Dick Schmall

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Streets of GoldLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:34-04:00

Wearin’ of the Green

A grain of corn was slipped
into the mother earth
Moist, warm soil responded,
and soon the kernel was swelling
Life emerging from the heart
a tiny shoot slipped out
and burrowed deeper, ever deeper
another shoot slipped out
to seek the sun
Power up, and power down
mitosis kicking, screaming
not to be denied
the plant emerged, began unfolding
unwrapping leaf after leaf

A farmer kneeling
studying carefully
a doctor in his office
an army in his tool kit, ready,
pronouncing all is well

Most will view
the landscape changing
noting fields turned green
the comin’ of the green has happened!
A glory to be seen
because it represents
fields of food, and fuel, and fibre

Somewhere a chorus should be singin’
Hallelujahs loud and long
But it’s just quiet
like the farmer
on his knees, thinkin’
bout the wonder of it all….

Lin 5/11/10

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Wearin’ of the GreenLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:34-04:00

Walking with a Friend

One of life’s desserts
is walking with a friend.
Priceless those times
whether in silence
just being together
or in conversation
probing life’s mysteries
sharing joys
sharing pains
sharing being.

Maybe it’s a little bit of heaven
pared down to a pair
Outside oneself
feelings extended
exposed
but safe
Like a snapshot
capturing a moment

The name of a friend
can bring a smile
a warm
and they grow more precious
time passing

And maybe that makes heaven
all the more sought
the idea that forever
and ever
and ever
there’ll be no more separation

“Click”
With God
with friends

Selah,
Lin 07/09

152

Walking with a FriendLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:35-04:00

Unglorious Mud

Politics lives
in all mankind
and seems condemned to mud
Unglorius mostly
in varying forms
We watch it ooze along

There’s mire that lurks
at every corner
slippery slopes for certain
The pol’s obliged
ankle deep
to walk in troubled waters
then climb atop
a platform high
pontificate to the people
Maybe that’s why
the podium’s there
It hides the sodden shoes

History reads
that most sink down
or so it seems at times
Honest politician?
We sigh or snicker and frown
We desire, we want and hope,
but somehow something happens
Headlines blare
someone’s sinking
someone’s sunk
Mud has won the day

The nasty thing
is found in mirrors
Snoopy nailed it down…
“We have found the enemy,
and it is us!”
For dream as we may
wish as we do
the pols reflect on us…

We raise them
don’t you see
they’re the same as you and me

I learned a lesson
near four decades ago
when traveling around the state
I visited towns,
looked them over,
then went to see the schools.
Run down towns
had run down schools
you can guess about the students…
But the opposite was true
well kept towns
had well kept schools
it all did fit together

So if we have
our pols in mud
we need to look inside
What do we read?
What do we watch?
What do we tolerate?
Where does our money go?
How do we spend our time?

It doubly hurts
to stop and look
to spend some time reflecting
on where we are
and want to go
and how we might then get there….

Two thousand nine
we have some time
the gifts of today, tomorrow maybe
How will we invest it?
People?
Things eternal?

Your call.
Mine too!

Lin 1/09

Robbie Burns: “O wad some pow’r, the Giftie gie us,
to see oursils, as others see us!”

151

Unglorious MudLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:35-04:00

Buds and Blossoms

Something about the season
has caused a flood of buds
They are thicker than I’ve ever seen them
gracing the yards and streets
Some with fragrant smells
wrapping around a spot
but all with great achievement
a worthy site to ponder

What do they know
kept secret from us?
Will the summer be
a time of abundant fruit?
Or is this just a show
a Hollywood event in color
that will flutter to the floor
cut and cast away
to never be seen any more?

Nature gives us moments
but nature holds the keys
we can but seize the moment
and do our best to capture
Verse, paint, snap a picture,
put it in our memory
but gone it will be

Buds, blossoms, fruits
all part of a great design
that leads us to a creator
Whose palette never ends
Sunrise
Sunset
Days of wondrous skies
A lover, a child, a grandchild and more
Ah, all there for us
the Good Book says
to mold our thoughts to recognize
there is a God
and it is not us….

Selah,
Lin 05/08

Romans 11:33-36

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Buds and BlossomsLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:35-04:00

WhiteOut

A great white curtain
has been pulled o’er the farm
nothing afar can be seen
just white, and more white

We are likely attuned
to thinking not seeing
in full and complete darkness
But nature has her way
today
we can’t see in whiteness!

Those long lived
have borne witness
to puzzles uncounted
We have gazed and pondered
how earth and we
came to be

We are prone to draw lines
divide the days, the years
into neat little segments
nature has ways
to cover the lines
turn our whole world white
then melt the white away

Hopefully, our whiteouts
are in people
where from time to time
the world disappears
except for special ones
a spouse, a child
a loved one so precious
the world goes away
but just like the snow
those moments melt
to be remembered
savored
as long as we live

Can we capture and hold
those moments so treasured?
Put them down in lasting ways?
And if we do
will someone someday regard them
ponder them with equal wonder
What was so special?
They might say

We like the snow
cover the earth
but just for a day

Selah, Lin 02/08

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WhiteOutLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:36-04:00

The World of Blather

Polly Ticks
and talks a lot
gathering far and near
to hear a lot of…
Blather!

Oceans are filled
with words said hastily
mountains and mountains built
of words

Searching for substance
is quite a quest
amongst the slippery slopes
But I learned very early
to watch my step
when walking in the pasture

The best right now
that I can discern
is that they care a lot
Night and day
every way they can think of
the go and go and go
to drop exhausted
then rise again
whirling along their way

Hands reach out
to grasp, to touch their hands
to be the ones standing near
Why, I remember
as a child
being near a man called Truman
His train was stopped
two blocks from my house
so a crowd quickly gathered
His voice, his manner
were kind of jumpy
jerky, some would say
I’d come to like him
when I grew up.
Straight talk!
The buck stops here!

Sifting, sorting,
is now our lot
as to the ballot we go
to stand becurtained
all alone
and make our choices there

Some are easy
they’ve offended in some way
but then it gets hard
cause none are perfect
It’s simply not to be
for they’re like us
a fallen lot
in need of saving grace

God Bless America
Please and again!

Lin Primary Day in Illinois 08

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The World of BlatherLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:36-04:00

The Incredible Workshop

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For some 70 years now,
this workshop has produced
If you are one of those
who is ‘outcomes based’
A treat is in store for you here!

The shelves and drawers are full
tools of the trade are in waiting
for the five generations who’ve labored herein
Some of the tools are history
some are very recent
But every one, has current use, productive

The window looks out to a farm
livestock and crops are grown
feeding the families
feeding the world
Out there the soil is tilled
opened to awesome production
ever increasing in output, yield

Inside the window is art
cabinets sculpted just so
countertops defined by use
appliances to help create, and serve

Herein hands, hearts, minds and spirits work
In communion creating dishes of food
of colors and texture and taste
Think apple pie fresh from the oven
grandma’s rolls
pot roasts and trimmings savored aromas
early morning coffee
the clatter and chattering of lunch times
the busyness of holiday gatherings
grandma, daughters, and grand daughters together,
grandpa, sons, and grandsons together

The farm kitchen is a key place
where the telephone rings
and words go forth
where plans are made
hashed and rehashed
where dishes are used
washed and put in waiting
Oh, the sacks that are carried in
and the garbage carried out!
all to enable the family going, doing
here on the farm
and out, and about

I hope some memories have come to you
in my musings here
You provide the faces
in their specific places
in your particular kitchen
Remember the laugher
and the tears
Remember the pleasant chatter
that happens through the years
The colors, textures, arrangements
of particular times and dishes
prepared, and served
to the ones you hold special

Selah, Lin 8/10

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The Incredible WorkshopLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:36-04:00

The Friendly Tidal Waves

they come, come fall
when the harvest is ripe
to the task, oriented

The friends arrive
and set to the task
harvest, 2011

Wave after wave
they work
running the big machines
pouring grain into trucks
and into bins
food for the many
fuel for some
and fiber for others

The farm population swells
ever so briefly
as corn fields signal
breezes waving the tall summer bronzed stalks
slipping away the kernels
against the coming winter

Long days in the fields
machines laboring hour after hour
the men and women cling to their tasks
until the last fruits are captured
stored

O dark thirty finds the folks
gathered at harvest tables
bowls of food passing
events of the day shared
feet under the tables
true friends
sharing the fuel for tomorrow
and tomorrow

Sun up ‘til sun down
field after field
yielding the fruits of labors
challenges met and conquered
moving on

The day comes for parting hugs
and quiet comes to the farm
Peace, after the hurried days
rest
the season past

The planting and the harvest
and again the soil, the sun, the rain, the farmers have communed
Nature, and nature’s God again have blessed
hunger pushed back another year

The friendly tidal waves
have been here
and the golden sun sets again
slipping away towards winter

When peace, like a river,
attends our way
and we reflect
it has been good…
again…

Selah, lin, harvest 2011
to Bruce and Linda Koe, who ride the friendly tidal waves

146

The Friendly Tidal WavesLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:37-04:00

That Would Be a Yes!

Ah, yes, I am a farmer!
And it is good to have all the corn planted!
And it is good to receive a blessing rain!
Gentle. Soft.
Whispering down on the rich black soil.
Soaking down to bathe the seeds…

Can you picture a perfect bath?
Settling down into soothing warm water.
Leaning back, settling in, relaxing.

The seeds are sons and daughters
products of the generations
Sifted, sorted, chosen carefully,
genes on the racetrack starting line

What looks to be a lifeless grain
is waiting to explode!
An awesome ‘click’
when elements combine:
warmth and water, and a little time
Life bursts forth in a tiny shoot
pushing to the light

That would be a YES!
A farmer blessed!
Connecting dots galore
Hungry people and those who help
celebrating planting tomorrow’s food

Not to mention
a little rest
repairing of machines
moving again to the starting line
to plant ‘the other crop’.

Selah!
Lin 05/09

Corn planted, soybeans to follow!

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That Would Be a Yes!Lin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:37-04:00

ThanksGiving

O that our thanks
could measure up
to the heights of our blessings received

The power of suns rising
matched in a Savior rising
opening heaven’s doors for us

The power in our air
the pungent scent of spring plowed soil
the clean breath of summer rain
the labored odor of oil and fuel and grain
of leaves in fall, burning brightly
of crispness with the frost
through the seasons reminding
creator and created

The mysteries of discovery
there all the time
waiting, just waiting,
for us to recognize
nano and pico
to numbers to big
again and again
now seeing the pathways
created and being

How we need to stretch
to grow in our thanksgiving
to offer praise and stop
reflect
on the wonder of it all…

“Summer and winter
springtime and harvest
sun moon and stars in their courses above
join with all nature in manifold witness
to Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.”*

Lin 11/07

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ThanksGivingLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:37-04:00

Systems

Designing a sub was the task
so what to do?
Study the whale
and go from there

Sinking in sand
a desert problem
so a wise engineer
studied the camel
developed a ratio
noting the camel’s foot square inches
related to its weight
worked!
No more sinking in the sand!

Giant harvesters called combines
had a need
power at any infinite slow speed
a pump, hydraulics, a part answer
then electric switches, opening valves
then computers, controlling switches
Hmmmmm
Like the human body
brain computer, controlling valves
heart pump hydraulics
control slow…and fast

George Washington Carver
gifted agronomist
studying Genesis
knowing there was more
hidden, but discoverable,
So he studied the peanut
and saved the southern farmer
Sorry, boll weavil!

Whatever we study
we wind up amazed
at what was there
all of the time
waiting
to be discovered

“He was there,
all the time,
waiting patiently
for you.” *

Lin, 10/10
*chorus, Gary Paxton

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SystemsLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:37-04:00

Farmer Progress

They came…
oh, how they came
to the Farm Progress Show!
Half a section of cars and trucks
lined up on a hayfield
Passengers streaming in

Mega tents and open air
the vendors engaged the farmers
A thousand vendors
ten thousand farmers
Connecting, sharing info

The machinery farmers dream of
shiny, parked to see
the latest, best in the world
farmers and visitors taking pictures
Machines working, side by side
out in the adjacent fields
tilling, harvesting, awesome sights

It really is, farmer progress,
married to dreams, engineering, manufacturing
Seeds and all the things
that move the world of agriculture
here, connecting the dots, the people

Someday, I hope,
you can join the crowd
to soak in this world of food, fuel, and fiber
the people who make it happen
who fill your plate
and those around the world

Seven billion people
sit at the table
more every single day
waiting for their food
How can the food be there?
Come and see
Farmer Progress!

Lin, Farm Progress Show, Decatur, 8/2011

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Farmer ProgressLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:38-04:00

Smile

Smiles are electric, warming moments
leaping across the spans that separate folks
Walls can come down instantly
as strangers smile at each other

Male, female, often guarded,
smiles reach out, lingering questions
speaking confidence,
a venture in trust

Across languages
smiles are starting points
opportunities to take that path
and rise above suspicions

Body language supreme
smiles ace skin color
and nationality
to begin a pleasant journey

I know a certain person
who has a smile in greeting
that sends that instant message
“I’m glad to see you!”

She gives that gift quite often
in doing so making
the world a better place.

So, my reader, smile!
And take your world on that pathway
for ‘two roads still diverge’
and the choice is ours….

Selah,
Lin 12/2012

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SmileLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:38-04:00

History 101

In a far far away place
is a land where liberals live
Tis a candy land, you see,
where nothing can be hard

Where never is heard,
a discouraging word
and the skies are not cloudy all day

You, Bruce friend,
have pulled back the covers
and asked ‘Who is there?”
Ain’t nobody! Nothing!
But don’t you despair!

Just over the hill
comes a sleigh full of goodies!
Yes, Bubba, Santa Claus lives!
He’s coming in January
and it ain’t gonna be purdy
’cause you and I are payin’
and payin’ and payin’….

No, she don’t know
She ain’t never believin’
So rest well tonight
and wait calm and peaceful
Who knows? Reindeer might fly?

Bubba Warfel
sufferin’ in my guns and religion!

140

History 101Lin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:38-04:00

Silent Night, Holy Night*

For just a few moments
my wish for you this evening
is that each of you had a rocking chair
and we had a just right fireplace right here
with a just right assembly of logs
burning just right

the warmth of the fire on your face
the coolness of the room behind you
the day is winding down

Step back with me now
through the ages, the people of the Bible

Abraham and Sarah,
the patriarchs and their spouses
years and generations passing
and now it’s a quiet night in Israel

The humidity is low as usual
and the night air is cold
The sky is sharp and clear
shepherds are watching a star
an unusual, very very bright star
light is flooding down to earth almost like daylight
the star seems to be beckoning them, so they follow it

Those who wonder can wonder about just how
a loving God could reach down to earth
touch his created in a way that would open eyes
open minds, and be a lasting gift
A gift foretold
a gift that was coming
The Light of the World came down

A baby
that’s the answer!
A dependent little fella
needing the care of his mom and dad
the connection to all people on earth

I’ve traveled to 6 of the seven continents
and it is true – with my own eyes I’ve seen it
the care of a mother and father for their baby….
There is no better connection on earth….

So there that night in Bethlehem
a baby’s first cry rang out

Now across two thousand years
we can still make that connection
We can come to Jesus
O come, let us adore Him!
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord!

Lin Christmas Eve 2010
*Silent Night, Holy Night, Stille Nacht, Joseph Mohr, Franz Gruber

139

Silent Night, Holy Night*Lin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:38-04:00

Sifting Soil

“And the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.”
Genesis 2:7

In the springtime I walked the fields
my feet traversing the soil as my father did
my grandfather did
my great grandfather did
Eyes seasoned by the looking, seeing,
the condition of the soil

Stopping, picking up a handful,
sensing the temperature
weighing the sun’s progress against the winter cold
sensing the moisture
sifting in the senses
the experience of generations

Decision time
bring out the machines
till the soil, sifting
the snugging the seeds into their home
on my knees uncovering them, checking them
just right depth
just right compaction
just right soil moisture and temperature
I’m sifting the season

Again I walk the fields
on my knees looking carefully
disease or insect damage?
Tiny plants by millions growing
drawing on the sifted soil
Later walking amidst waist high plants
again checking for disease and insects
A farmer works against ten thousand things we know
and many more yet to know
We know a lot
we know so little

The seasons throw a switch
and begin the walk towards winter
With the fall come harvest
and again the communion with soil
Harvesters begin their toil
giant machines swallowing plants
sifting, sifting sifting
‘til only the seeds, the fruits of all the labor,
are collected and moved to processors or storage
In the sifting, sorting, dry afternoons make dust
swirling about the men and machines
sometimes like a fog lying quietly
moving slowing
gradually returning to the soil

The day comes quickly
when the last row is swallowed up
and the machines are put to rest
The farmer and his helpers too
lie down and rest
but not for long
the next season is in preparation
once again combing the soil
adding plant food, replentishing

Thinking back on all the sifting
the soil that has given us so much
the farmer realizes that he, too,
has been sifted
Like the dust from which he was formed
his destiny is to return
sifted
to the soil

“And God blessed the seventh day
and made it holy
because on it He rested
from all the work He had done.”

Selah, LIn 2/10

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Sifting SoilLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:39-04:00

Showers and Thunderstorms Likely

More likely,
what’s to like about more of them?
Well, you see,
I’m not in charge
nor are you or we!
We simply get to watch
and listen
and measure
and wait
some more!

Days as a kid
bicycle my ‘horse’
street drains would plug
and lakes ensue
What fun to hit high speed
aim for the lake
raise my feet from the pedals
Hit the water
and coast on through
usually!
If I didn’t make it
I had to pedal
my tennies would fill with water
muddy water
yukky water
and mom wouldn’t be happy
when socks once white
came to her muddy colored

Now I scout my fields
my pickup truck on the road
easing through the water
Water rushes from the fields
ever anxious to find a river
make a river
lakes in my field are growing
and I’m waiting

Times like these, Grandma helped
In her 90’s she’d advise
“We’ve always had a crop”
Born where I live
her history spanned a century
her parents broke the sod
dug ditches, and drained the swamps
“We’ve always had a crop”
Repeat after me? Say it again!

Showers and thunderstorms likely?
I’ve plenty of things to do
like write a poem!
clean the shop
clean my office
mow and mow again!
Go to a movie
read a book
visit a nursing home
have dinner with some friends!
How about a date tonight?
It’s probably been too long!

Just take the umbrella
cause it’s still the prairie
where ‘horizontal rain’ reigns!

Lin, Showers of Blessings, April 2011

137

Showers and Thunderstorms LikelyLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:39-04:00

Run Like the Wind

What a joy it is
to run like the wind
zigging and zagging
around trees and fences
Jumping over small things
and charging ahead

Going nowhere
just running and breathing
and letting muscles go
Energy pouring
heart pounding
Oh, it feels good!

The great race I know
was now long ago
Olympics, in Paris France
A Scot was preparing, qualifying
a race at a time
but one race stood out
He was pushed over and fell
the pack running on
He rolled over and saw them
Was it too late?
No matter, he chased
Harder and harder he ran
and then it happened
He “ran in the spirit”
arms flailing, head back
He ran with the wind
and he was gaining
faster and faster he ran
catching, passing one
then another
At the finish line
he won
Unbelievable! It happened!

The Holy Spirit is wind
in some definitions
Moving among us
bathing, surrounding, covering
A chorus goes:
“God is moving
by His Spirit
Moving through all the earth
Signs and wonders
when God moveth
Move, Oh Lord, in me.”*

Today, this day,
set your sails on high
Run yourself, or watch
Move with the Wind.

Lin Warfel, 04/09

* author unknown

136

Run Like the WindLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:39-04:00

Ode to a Field Mouse

Some two hundred years ago
a ploughman wrote of a mouse
Behind a horse
he watched her scurry
across the fresh plowed field

Burns sat and pondered
what he’d done
turning the home site over
A tender fellow
more a poet
than a striving farmer
guilt surrounded him.

I, in turn, have seen my mouses!
When I was younger
I sent them packing!
My horse a tractor
some three hundred power
moving like a runner
no hesitation
hour after hour
opening the soil for winter

Back then the mouse had chances
slim to almost nothing
but times have changed
and so have I
In my getting older
I might even stop my steed
and take my pen
a muse a bit about him

Remembering my dad
to my chagrin
when he was my age then
would stop the tractor
let the little mouse pass
then roar on down the field

Now I do too!
Respect for life
has grown and grown
as children and grandchildren come
I learn with fascination
the systems there
in little creatures
and find their study good

I wonder at my world
where mice don’t count
but more importantly
neither do babies
if they’re not wanted
it is their fate
to be plowed away for pleasure

Over a million
go that way
each year in my home land
and more expected now
‘Inconvenient’, some do say,
so flushed away they are

Across the world in China
girl babies were set away
left to die alone
We? We criticized…
I wonder why
We cannot see ourselves.

That brings me back
to the Scottish ploughman
who pondered long and hard
and said this to us one day:

O wad some pow’r
the Giftie gie us
to see oursils
as others see us….*

Lin, Plowing on a Winter’s Day 11/08
*Robert Burns, 1759-1796

135

Ode to a Field MouseLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:40-04:00

Global Warming

Setting records
right and left
middle of the country too
Global warming
is the culprit
so some scientists say

Learned fellows
degrees in tow
study deeply
numbers and more
then make their premise
give it to us
‘Best guess’, might be
a better thought

Ten year cooling
they tell us now
along with ‘climate change’
Cooling is warming
is hard to take
for us simple folk

Doesn’t help
three decades back
the self same people said
“Ice age coming”
‘Be prepared”
We have the figures here
It’s proven.
Said and done
Prepare for cold and ice

More cold, more snow
(of course)
more of everything
except my toes
tell me I’m cold
and beg for warmer sox!

Please stay tuned
for a different page
wherein we’re told the story
to be care takers
of our planet
and ourselves
and each other…

It will be cold
it will be hot
there will be change for certain
we have to keep on tryin’
to keep a straight face
when learned fellows
do their best….

Lin 2/10

134

Global WarmingLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:40-04:00

Rain Softened World

The early morning trek
to the mailbox, a habit
was padding on a softened carpet

The air was gently cleaned
from harvest dust and more
misty, sprinkled rain
had done its work

Red and yellow maple leaves
still falling
lay wet on the green grass
making my footsteps silent as I trod

The beloved soil is soaking it in
picture a lady (discretely) in bath
exquisite the gentling time
softening with the moisture

The Japanese maple outside my window
has tiny diamond drops on darkened branches
and the pointed leaves drip ever so slowly
it needed rain as well

After some very dry weeks
the rain stops harvest, for a moment
so the farm folks are catching up inside
repairing themselves and their machinery
a second cup of coffee
not on the run!

Some cultures do a bath, regularly,
as a leisurely respite, a sigh
an ‘ahhhhh’
The earth does it too!
Enjoy!

Lin Harvest 2011

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Rain Softened WorldLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:40-04:00

Mud

Rain and soil
love each other
make the world go round

Sometimes, just sometimes,
our cup runs over
and creates a problem

Stuck! We say
Stuck in the mud!
Not a happy time…

A giant machine
some 15 tons
25 by 30 by 12
on giant wheels
six feet tall
purring along so smoothly

Slowing, slowing, finally stopping
sinking deeper, deeper, deeper
Hit reverse! Back it out!
Hope! Ah! Won’t go backward either!
Think! Ponder!
Do something quickly!
Sitting is not an option!

Forward again!
Give her the gun!
Just get a little farther
to solid ground

Back and forth,
back and forth,
maybe sinking deeper….
Mud is flying
from the wheels
Argh!

Thinking bout chains, long ones
or a cable, a hundred feet
what to hook it on to help
Oh the ruts!
Poor poor soil!
To be so ripped asunder….

Harvester rescued
back at the shop
plastered with nice black muck
Power washer, going full blast
now piles of mud lying about
Like clothes from a teenager
piled higher and deeper
another mess to deal with

The corn’s still there
waiting for me
waiting for a day of harvest
when
A giant machine
some 15 tons
25 by 30 by 12
on giant wheels
six feet tall
will purr along smoothly

“By the sweat of your brow,
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground
since from it you were taken’…

Selah, LIn Harvest 09/Mud

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MudLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:41-04:00

Last Blasts

Winter often holds us
in a grip of ice and iron winds
We, like bits of paper,
are swept across the prairie
looking for a spot of comfort
warmth by our fires now tamed

The soil frozen hard
captive much like us
endure, we think,
for spring is coming
the calendar clicks the days
as we gaze from frosted windows
holding cups of comfort

Bits of snow
bits of ice
the wind so lonesome blows
untapped, except to chill us
through the day it goes
across our country
and out to sea
day after day it comes

Our cars shudder on the freeway
the trucks are tossed aside
and yet it blows

Maybe there are cables
we cannot see or sense
and the wind is towing springtime
from far away to present
the fresh green grass, the flowers
the trees with buds and leaves
the lushest clouds from heaven
so white and pure soft

I can dream of springtime surely
I have seen two thirds a century now
and know it’s coming, coming
But today, toes and fingers aching
nose of brightest red
I’m bundled, leaning
against the wind and cold
dulled, but going
working, but slowly
“Hold on, to the plow!”

Amen.

Lin 2/08

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Last BlastsLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:41-04:00

Winter Wonders

Arctic winds unfurl
to lash the winter plains
they’re a poke in the breadbasket
that feeds the world

Bitter cold
wind, sleet, snow
fight with one another
with us in the miserable middle

O well!
We’re killing bugs!
No kidding!
Insects die by billions
as their eggs freeze and split
decimated, no more!
No one can count them
the victims of the weather
the birds still have plenty to eat

Snow piles higher and higher
school cancelled
activities shunted, other dates
people stock up on groceries
“Hunker down”, advisors say
Plan on staying home
Safety first, of course!

Fleets of trucks and tractors
load with salt and fuel
awaiting the calm of afterstorm
Drivers resting, waiting
to go full blast
clearing the roads again

Hardy souls, these people,
who plow our roads
fix our poles and wires
to make us comfy
allow us travel
through all kinds of weather

I know
that like the ants
you’ve ‘gathered in’
supplies to sail on through
Well done! say I,
well done!

Spring is just around the corner!
The days are longer
the hidden sun will come
and chase the snow, the ice away
Once more
gentle, warm breezes will blow
and flowers not their heads
Hang on! Hang on, dear friend!

Best, Lin

120

Winter WondersLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:41-04:00

Just in Time

The farmer’s life
is on an edge
where living things are found
Time can move
time can stop
and time can come
in a nick at times too!

Corn is lush
and drinks a lot
so ‘talks’ to us quite loud
Leaves curl up
Spike, we say,
or even turn a scary gray

When it gets dry
and the sun is hot
poor corn is prone to ‘sweat’
a lot
It’s working hard
to grow so fast
broad leaves perspire

The farmer watches
looks for rain
looks again and again
waits
and ‘just in time’
thunderclouds roll
and rain drops fall
Dry soil gulps it in
the plants relax
unfurl their leaves
and ‘off to the races’ they go!

Drinking in sun
drinking in rain
drinking in plant food
a factory in full swing
racing towards the harvest

How blessed we are, when,
just in time,
the precious rains come down
You’ll find me humming
sometimes singing
happiness overflowing

“In His time,
In His time,
He makes all things beautiful
in His time
Lord please show me every day
as You’re teaching me Your way
That You do just what You say
in Your time.” *

Lin 7/10
*text and music, Diane Ball, Maranatha Music

119

Just in TimeLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:42-04:00

January Thaw

The midwest prairie has a thing
that happens most every year
Just when winter’s iron grip
seems crushingly stong
The sun comes warm
and the winds die down
temperatures climb over freezing
Ice recedes, snow piles shrink
people shed a layer
A welcome respite
the January Thaw
affording hope of spring

The jet stream shifts
and back again
the arctic winds come blowing
The sun is hiding
dry snow falling
dark at eight in the morning
Cold? 7 above!
People and engines grind with effort
but come to life again
move about, to do their things
in spite of wind and weather

Still, we know
that spring is coming
a minute longer day
a little warmer lower temp
garden catalogs rain on us
there is a certain stirring

Winter’s gray is slipping
soon to go away
pushed by springtime heralds
back again, I say!

Give over, winter!
Come on spring!

Ending January, 09, Lin

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January ThawLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:42-04:00

Golden Seasoning

A precious metal
that being gold
but give no thought to eating it!

Of prescient note
the color of fall
when some night switches thrown
our world of green
changes clothes
to slip in glowing gold

Soybean fields
their fruits all hidden
shout out the harvest coming
“Gold is hidden here,
beneath our golden leaves!”
Indeed, riches are unfolding
the fruits that open to us
building blocks of proteins

Corn fields try it too
but are no match for beans
Yes, streaks of gold on giant leaves
the corn forests are changing too

Ah, reds and purples
oranges and golds
slipping into tans
All shout beauty
and coming harvest

but I, I choose the gold!

Farmer Warfel, 09/09

114

Golden SeasoningLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:43-04:00

God’s Colors

Had God a favorite
some would say
it’s surely the color gray!

Because there is so much of it!
Say Seattle folks
who number days
until the sun breaks through
Oregon amens
numbs along
waiting for a ‘sunbreak’.

Prairie folks
are rich in gray
as winter grinds along
heavy clouds
frown upon us
sometimes a bit too long

Or could it be, perhaps,
the color blue
because there is so much of it?
The oceans huge
the skies above
who can measure all of that?

Maybe yellow
bright and fair
in flowers or a bird
or Easter dresses
fresh and crisp
delighting those who wear

Ah, maybe tis green?
Forests glens and more
grass forever
in Argentina
golf courses and parks
and yards and pastures
life is hidden there

Red, I’d choose
oh how we use it!
Fire engines
race cars
roses and more
Exciting, to be certain
But, stop and think,
of life’s blood flowing
and of course at last
The sacrifice
atonement
God designed
delivered
in red….

“To God be the glory
great things he has done
So loved he the world
he gave us his son
Who yielded his life
an atonement for sin
and opened the lifegate
that all may go in……” *

*Fanny Crosby, To God Be the Gloryo

Lin 03/09

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God’s ColorsLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:43-04:00

Fall Reflection

Breathing in the scent
of freshly tilled black soil
the harvest freshly done
the bounty gathered in
the season now, begins again

It’s evening in
the life of a farmer
the year of tilling, planting, tending, harvest done
it could be a time of rest, but not yet
the soil, the mother of it all
needs to be stroked, massaged
before it is laid to rest.

It is a time of opening up’
so it can breathe more deeply
receiving the rains of fall
expanding, contracting, with freezing thawing

The Lord God took some dust, some soil,
and shaped it to a man
then breathed into his nostrils
and he became a being

And I?
I breathe in the scent
and wonder
What is man
that God is mindful of him?

Lin 11/07

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Fall ReflectionLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:43-04:00

Black Gold

Some are wont to say
petroleum is true black gold
Indeed we use it greatly
making a thousand things
It pushes our cars and trucks
millions or billions of miles
carrying us near and far
to places we want to go

But…

(a magnificent word, eh wot?)

But I’m thinking of another
black gold that’s e’en more precious
some walk upon it
plant it, water it, watch it grow
the food we eat
the fibre we wear
and even produce our fuel!

In Champaign County
we have black soil
the richest in the word!
Oh, other places have some too
Of that I’m well aware
but (here’s that word again)
here we mix with other things
that help it reach a peak

We have a government
that helps us to be free
to use it for the best
and reward those who work it

We have a learning system
that shapes and molds and makes things better
stretching our minds, and creating structures
that also bless the soil

We have an ethic
brought from abroad
with wave upon wave of people
who sense the good
and make the effort
to travel here to stay

We have religion
that regards each one valued
no matter where they came from
no matter sex or color
Our currency proclaims it
for one and all to see
“In God We Trust’
we’ve built upon
and pledge to keep on building

So many pieces
come together
built upon this soil
Black Gold
Indeed it is!
A wonder to behold!

Best, Lin 11/08

104

Black GoldLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:44-04:00

Rain Again…and again…and AGAIN!

Stop!
Look!
Did you see it?

The word ‘again’?
It’s two words, really:
A
and gain!

Rain is a gain!
The fields are soaking
drinking it in
Not much in ponds
not much in ditches
The soil is ‘talking’
saying ‘It’s okay”.

Are you not busy?
Nothing to do?
Ah, refocus is the word
The world is talking
but you were too busy
to hurried
to hear, to listen

What is being said?
What was being missed?
Two steps back, if you please.
Look a little deeper
Put your feet up
think of the people
and how you can help

Faces soon appear
on the screen of the needy
Boys with no father
needing some help
Young folks in missions
needing some wisdom
Friends facing challenges
with health or with jobs
Spouses and children
needing some time

The rain draws a line
in the mud, not the sand
and gives us a chance
to re-order our lives.

Reminders come at us
that life is short, precious
limited here, unlimited there
Once again we hear
“Invest yourself in people
‘and in things eternal.”

Selah, LIn 10/09

132

Rain Again…and again…and AGAIN!Lin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:44-04:00

Radar Soup

The maps are things of color
sometimes a bit too much!
This morning greens and yellows
swath the screen across the state
heralding rain aplenty again

The picture from my window
bears great resemblance too
The rich black fields in contrast
to the richest green of grass
Thank goodness the purple leaf plum shade
is missing from the map!
And Prairie Fire Crabs in blossom
are missing from the map hooray!

Green and yellow
on radar maps
are quite enough thank you
I’m happy reds are missing
and hope they stay that way
until perhaps a July day
when crops are painfully dry

Another cup of coffee
plan B another day
Not to worry!
I have my books
and favorite magazines
and my machines will have a rest
(not my wife! I’ll be a pest!)

Life can be
a running swirl
but green and yellow
on a map
can make us stop and ponder
We are blessed
in so many ways
It is good, these colors….

Selah, LIn 05/08

131

Radar SoupLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:44-04:00

David H. Baker

There is an army
all volunteer
where each soldier carries a sword
Time passing by
each soldier faces a challenge
takes a turn
front and center
They turn and face the troops
and without speaking say
“If you are with me,
take one step forward.”
The brothers and sisters do….

They fall on their knees
open their Bibles
and from their hearts they pray

Lord, have mercy
We come to You
Creator and Giftor of life
We pray for your touch today
Our brother needs you
Lord have mercy upon him
He is a fellow soldier
in your kingdom
Touch him, we pray,
in ways only you can
Separate disease from his body
and grant him life
and may it be
more and more abundantly

Thy will be done, on earth,
in our brother,
as your will is done in heaven

Amen

130

David H. BakerLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:45-04:00

Prairie Symphony

Various maestros take us moving
across the earth in sounds
Copeland out west, perhaps,
Tchaikovsky in Russian war
Operas in Italy and more
Somehow the prairie gets captured
in words, Sandburg and Frost
and folks of their ilk

Just now I invite you to journey
across the seasons, the sounds
of the prairie, my home, yours?

Late fall has a challenge in moving
summer away, winter begins
In the middle the full orchestra plays,
the winds, brass, percussion, strings
So many sounds surround us
Please, settle back, close your eyes
and listen

Wind driven rain
on window and me
sometimes softly, gently
pitter pattering,
drip, drip, dropping
and sometimes exploding
huge splashes and splats
tinged with ice and snow
The prairie is getting a cleansing
and a pasting down for winter
gluing leaves to earth
laying down tall grasses
winds whistle past us this way and that
banging doors, whistling in songs
we know.
Thunder rolls, lightning crashes
cymbals, tympanies, bass drums, snares
wind chimes on the patio hurry
barn walls creak, metal roofs respond
Awesome energies swirl across us
and then comes silence

Winter settles over us
gray days and gray sounds
broken by fireplace sounds
the wood trying its best
to speak to us
tell us
in cracks and pops and hisses
about the years gone by
Ssssssss, listen
Crack! Wake up!
Stoke the fire
and remember the
chop, chop chopping,
the buzz of the chain saw working
The man noises of lifting,carrying, stacking
clunk, clunk, clunk, the rick is built and waiting
Early morning barn noises remembered
cattle feet shuffling
animals munching, eating
sounds of milk in metal pails
the cats meowing, begging
then the pigs squealing, pushing
each other to get some more
The chickens greeting grandma
as she scatters feed amongst them
Later morning finds us grinding feed
high pitched whines and tractor humming
hymns of life, eating

Time drags slowly, but spring arrives
new life sounds fill the air again
Little lambs bleating for mamas
calm ewes answering assurance
A foal whinnying somewhere,
then running and suckling a mare
Song birds returning
are the predawn greeting choir
chattering away so busy
fluttering wing sounds in the trees
as the sun peeks up
Trucks and trains get busy
bringing fuels and plant food
moving seeds to plant the fields
The prairie sounds are eager
to comb the earth, enfolding seeds
hurry, hurry, hurry

A blink or two and summer
surrounds in sounds of bugs
tiny whines, buzzing, scratching
listen carefully, they’re all around
Song birds have concerts in the garden
Enjoying the flowers blooming
splashing in their birdbaths, happy
then announcing ‘Cat!” and fleeing
but not far, just up high, watching, talking
Children laughing, yelling,
playing in the pool
Boys and girls splashing
“Marko!” yells one in game mode.
“Polo” yells another moving
Splash! as someone plunges deep
Sounds of friends in the backyard picnics
The murmuring of men
talking about crops, weather, markets
the higher pitched voices of ladies
talking about recipes and kids and growing
Quiet, a prayer offered in thanks
for the blessings of it all

So soon the summer wanes
the trees, the leaves, the crops
wave us into fall…again!

My words have touched so lightly
on the sounds of the seasons here
We’ll need to come again
to sift and sort and savor
creation, the symphony playing

Selah, Lin Thanksgiving 2010

129

Prairie SymphonyLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:45-04:00

music

Sing, violin, oh sing!
On and on and on
through thescenes of places moving
Running down a mountain
a stream races so fast
a beautiful young maiden, barefoot,
feet pattering a message
Stop!
Breathe deeply.
The mood is serenity
soothing the soul deeply
warm tears flow
feelings pour with them
blessing the spirit so finely

Bring on the Russian!
Power! Majesty! Exalting!
Passion floods from wall to wall
as the sounds stretch to reach
deep throated, challenging
full and rich and oh so beautiful
the master shares his skill

Ten thousand hours of practice
and practice every day
make the man, the instrument, the music
one
And we are blessed!
A thousand people focused
on the man, the instrument, the music
enthralled
captured
held
Then set free to applaud
and we did
receiving five extra gifts!

Selah, Lin 3/10 Itzhak Perlman

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musicLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:45-04:00

Panoply

A photo is a ‘stop’
in life, that is always moving
For those I know
and know quite well
the photo also shows our limits

Skilled photographers expand the shot
bringing in more than usual
but still, are so limited
because life is writ so large

So we have good things
bad things
and things in between
all going on at once
and we are left to sift and sort
and try to understand
and be positive
but be realistic

In it all
through it all
comfort comes from friends and family
and comfort comes from above
Shared burdens are still burdens
but the carrying welcomes company

Indeed life is a panoply
moving oh so quickly
sometimes we just hang on
to ride something through
learning, sharing, sustained
still here

Earth is brutal
in so many ways
yet earth is beautiful, too
Then, there’s a place called heaven
where earthly challenges, nastiness,
are not just subdued, but beaten
wiped clean
pure and enduring
like nothing on earth can be

It’s a place for humankind
only we can think it
begin, somehow,
to sense it

Laced in the panoply
are glimpses that give us clues
then there’s the amazing love
“And can it be?”
that is a bridge
leading to a home
eternal

Savor
the panoply here
Stop
for just a moment
to put your arms around that love
and give a hug today

Selah, LIn 5/10

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PanoplyLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:46-04:00

Oops!

Life on the oops! edge
can sure be a bother!
My coffee maker pot just off
a fraction of an inch
can sure make a mess on the counter…
the floor!

A slight miscalculation
going down the stairs
or down a ladder
or off a curb
or or or
can jerk us with pain
or even fracture

Life sure has its ‘oops’!
a built in part
living makes them happen
Nah! Not an evil plot
of some devil sneaking
just an oops we’ve got

New Year’s Day is a time
to back off
think about a lot
“Recalculating”
GPS voices say
choosing some better road
better path somehow
The Right Way?

Where are we?
Where do we want to go”
Helps us set our sails anew
Oh, to hear the snap of sails
catching the wind just so
and the surge of ship going forward
crashing through the waves

Just like the sailing ship
we’re made to forward go
“Where to?” Is really the question…
No reverse for sailing ships
nor for us either….

Sail on, my friend,
though the water’s high
and the weather blows
there is a harbor somewhere, out there
but for now,
Sail on!

Lin, January 1, 1011

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Oops!Lin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:46-04:00

Winter’s Hold

Winter comes with icy fingers
strong and sure and certain
to grip us all
our whole world
frozen soil, ice and snow
and winds that blow from the arctic

Fences sink in snow
with ice and frost lacing
caking cars and windshields
no yielding

Trees stand ridged
sometimes frosted
(see hoarfrost)
sometimes plastered
with blowing snow

Comes a day
when weeds spike through
icy roads are melted
and water begins to gurgle
roofs are dripping
streams are rippling
The sun is pouring it on

Those days are bright
hurts our eyes
Sunglasses are in order
We can feel the sun
surely most welcome
and sense the sun is winning

Spring will come
it always has
and with it comes the robins
who beat the bugs
beat the worms
but somehow do survive
they bet on warmth
they always win
for that we are most thankful!

Winter’s hold is failing
it makes one stop and think
Our lives seem short
and speeding past
indeed our hold is failing

But, there is a place
that grows every stronger
able to hold us forever
Think about it
as you watch the winter fold

Come in
Come in…from the cold
and be welcomed by the Son.

Lin 2/10

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Winter’s HoldLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:46-04:00

Mixing Bowl Weather

Ah, we study weather
and find out more and more
about what moves our weather

Sun spots have an impact
to start our study far away
Big shifts away out there
push and pull our climate

Moving closer, jet streams,
pathways of air way up high
‘carry the mail’ this way and that,
a giant snake of persuasion
shifting cold and hot
cool and warm

The midwest is a mixing bowl
parked betwixt the arctic and the gulf
a given day can see them both
wide swings what’s displayed
might be balmy, sort of,
fog like near the gulf
a little taste of Mexico
but short lived, for, you see,
the other way is arctic cold
blasting across the prairie
ice and snow can blow so strong
we wonder why we’re here

I have an answer, if you want to know,
we’re killing bugs in billions!
Yup! The cold kills their eggs
It also whips some nasty diseases
that attack our plants for food
Good! Brrrrr!
I’m still cold.

And the gulf weather brings us rain
natural
sweet
precious
that makes our bowl a greenhouse
breadbasket to the world
helped by river transport

So we live in a mixing bowl!
What a great adventure!
What a ride we have
living in
this mixing bowl… of weather!

Lin, wind chill sub zero, 12/10

123

Mixing Bowl WeatherLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:47-04:00

Machines at Rest

December morning finds them quiet
iron and steel and rubber
engineered to tasks
now, just sitting
parked

Days and nights they thundered
through the fields of black
lifting, turning, stroking
the soils that yielded plenty
chisel plows, men call them
they scratch nature’s back
opening her skin
to air and water
microbes breathe
earthworms relax
stalks and leaves asunder
ready for winter’s freeze and thaw
bugs and weeds disturbed
springtime will find fields waiting
to receive the seeds again

Cold, the metal sits
awaiting repairs, replacement parts
final shots of grease
all done
rest

Once was ‘man and beast’
now still man, but beast is motor
and hoe has grown and grown
so one man’s labor
is multiplied, again and again and again

One hundred fifty two
the current number speaks
one farmer, American,
feeds himself
and another hundred fifty two
Food, fiber, fuel
the soil, the seed, the labor
sun and heaven sent rain
combine with design
engineering, science, factories
education, capital, government
…peace
All come together
to make a machine

Parked
til next season
But not the farmer, no,
he’ll sit at desk and figure
go to meetings
ponder ‘ever better’
on he goes
to make it so

Lin 11/07

122

Machines at RestLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:47-04:00

If I were, a Democrat!

If I were, I think
I’d contain the dancing
longer, on the little hardwood floor

Representative Bachmann whirled and swirled
attracting lots of moths
Pretty woman, not shy to speak
she captured hearts for a moment

Then came Perry
from Texas, be wary
who rose like a shining star
then flamed, and became
another also ran

Come on Cain!
Cause ’em pain!
Hit ’em where it hurts!
Politicians, beltway blindness
business is the answer (mostly)
to whatever ails us…

Now he’s, uh, limping
under attack
women, take a number
but wear your tennies
you too will need to run…away

Who can be next
with their neck in a noose?
I think Bobby’s a pretty good bet!
Jindal’s doin’ good!
Pop him up, to take the heat
overcome poor ole Norman the doorman
oops!
wrong book!
poor ole Mormon, Romney
(I think I can; I think I can)
chugging along, hangin’ in there
waiting his turn for the guillotine

Your guesses welcome!

Lin 11/11

117

If I were, a Democrat!Lin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:53-04:00

Green color

Spring and farmer
bring the green focus
Winter pastures green and growing range
away the weary brown
Suddenly, it seems, the world’s carpet is back
lush underfoot

The buds swell, and the warm spring sun
first burst of green
announcing colors come
Protective shells are shucked
as life and increased energy
wrapped in soft spring green

In the areas of soft ground
softened by freezing and thawing
produces tiny buds
as the farmer watches
tunes itself to the earth again
“What we have here?”
Study
plans
boxes
plants

In a very short time
planted ranks appear
click genetics
soil, sun and moisture in communion
our livelihood comes
The orchestra plays
as God develops green
and give thanks …

Selah,

Lin April 2011

116

Green colorLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:54-04:00

Graduating!

Isn’t life just a series
of graduating from here to there?
Grandson Keller graduated today
from the lawnmowing tractor to a big one

John Deere Diesel
One hundred horses!
Big scoop on the front
that can lift and push

Twist goes the key to start
and a soft and low roar commences
down goes the clutch pedal
and into fifth gear goes a lever
give here a little ‘rabbit’
and ease out on the clutch
We’re moving!
Raise the scoop a bit
and wiggle the bucket back and forth
Wow! This is fun!

Around the farm we go
Keller and grandpa cruising,
then stopping to load her up
with a giant pile of branches
Back to the brush pile
and let the scoop unload
Back up, and here we go again!

A cool graduation, this,
from a little mower to a big tractor
but one of a thousand graduations….

Just maybe, at the end of life,
there is a final graduation?
We can be promoted, again,
from ‘here…earth…, to there…heaven!
Then we’ve truly arrived
for ever and evermore!

Here we get little tastes, little glories,
we celebrate with pleasure
We’re seeing through a glass darkly
but then it will be face to face!

Selah, Lin 8/2011

PS: Of course I am riding with him, and we are going slowly, carefully! Keller will be twelve in December.

115

Graduating!Lin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:54-04:00

Family, Parkland Style

It came out again
at the annual holiday party
“Parkland is really a family”
said a long time Parkland person.

I looked around the room
seeing folks engaged with one another
smiles, laughter, concern
hand shakes and hugs
and men a few kisses on cheeks
respecting one another
enjoying being with one another

The common tasks
doing of them
does create some bonds
but there is another level
when the task involves
‘investing in people,
and things eternal’

In gifting of one’s best
doing it again and again
focused on students
who volunteer themselves
the giving to another
benefits all involved

Nested in there
the bond that forms
creates a family
and that’s where Parkland lives

So we know our role and play it
receiving awards along the way
not so much because we seek them
but more that others see us
gain from us
want to be like us

Holiday parties
graduations
so few times, really,
we pause to capture, share, feelings,
of respect, appreciation, being,
then hurry on into tomorrows
Selah, Lin 12/2011

112

Family, Parkland StyleLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:54-04:00

What We Lost, and What We Won*

Will we remember
the world at war
Army’s marching
aiming, shooting
shells exploding
cities smashed
families dreams as well

What we won
can be measured
Freedom, from tyranny
cruel insanity
a madman was in charge
madmen came to help him
evil was set free
people died in ovens
in concentration camps
Jewish men in a line
pressed together, front to back
shot to see
how many could be killed
with a single bullet
American soldiers eaten
on far off Pacific Islands

Some sacrificed their lives
Some suffered wounds forever
and some came home to
The Land of the Free,
and the Home of the Brave…

We helped win freedom
to live and grow and be
in this land of opportunity
Sustained by God
we have gone on
that is what we won

Men and women working
worshipping freely
raising families in peace
not even locking doors
children playing into summer nights
friends visiting, laughing, talking
a generation, then two, then three
free to come and go

A handful now, in uniform
vigilant, on guard, protecting
Then, every family was touched
someone in uniform
everyone purposed:
Stop Adolph Hitler
Stop the Emperor’s minions
Stop the world, from going insane

What we lost was half a decade
millions of people and more
“Maybe we will not remember,
what we lost…
and what we won…”*

*Listen to Ben Bedford, writer, singer,
Lin 5/2011

110

What We Lost, and What We Won*Lin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:54-04:00

Fall on the Farm

Soggy leaves, from a gentle night time rain
Soggy soil, luxuriously black and rich
Fields of cornstalks, nipped and low
from roaring machines that stole their fruit
All warmed by a bright fall sun

My toes are cold
is winter creeping, sneaking,
behind some dark barked tree?
The birds are flocking
geese doing check flights
bugs by the billions looking for refuge

The world is changing
as we watch
yes, winter is coming
we know it’s so
So, like the ant
we must hurry and go
to do a thousand things
before we rest hearthside

Early morning darkness
finds us rising and taking food
first light finds us outside
tending to machines
A magic moment comes
when a key is turned
and a deep throated roar begins

Harvest
devour the crop
sift and sort and sift again
to pour the fruits collected
Boxes and trucks and train cars
barges and ships await

Eyes are watching
around the world
What’s the yield?
Will there be enough?
Can I afford to buy it?

Night is coming
and with it winter
when all will be quiet again
We’ll nestle down
to read and rest
and watch the cold winds blow
Another season
another year
planting, harvesting done

Selah, Lin 10/08

108

Fall on the FarmLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:55-04:00

The Cold

The earth is a quirky place
sometimes hot, sometimes cold
the winds blow hard or gentle
the sun beats down, or warms the soul
the rains come…, or not…

A springtime day
a touch of frost
when planting should be rolling
seeds stay warm, but in the bag
and in the shed, cozy

The farmer scratches his head
checks the weather, again
drinks more coffee
and thinks about the risks
Precious seeds, precious dollars
are sitting on the line
To plant, or not to plant
bet on the come?

Rule number one
(for lots of things!)
Don’t panic!
Tomorrow will come
always has
when the soil and air warm
to mother the seeds
help them grow, every so quickly

Rest and recharge
touch up the planter
be ready to pull the trigger
But today, step back
wait, be it every so hard
wait
for a better day….

Selah, LIn 36 degrees, May 17, 2011

107

The ColdLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:55-04:00

Chest High!

The saying used to be
and was a valid thought
‘Corn knee high
by the 4th of July!”
Well, a new target has appeared:
“Chest high
by 4th of July!”
And ‘we’ do it!

Better understanding
of the soil
(never say ‘dirt’)
and adding plant food
and genetics
and planting machinery
We carefully tune ourselves in
zero in
bringing the symphony to order

Picture the maestro
stepping up on his little platform
batoon raised
gaze intense
every instrument tuned and ready
His arms go up
and the music begins
to the farmer’s senses
a ‘hallelujah chorus’
an epiphany
of praise to the Creator

So the corn is chest high
and the farmer’s chest is swelled
he walks between the rows
looking carefully for problems
bugs and diseases and anything else
that might hold back the plants
To and fro through the fields
his footprints in the soil
Time and again he stops
kneels and studies
from roots to tops
undersides of leaves
feeling the stalks
looking for boreholes
Silent, unmoving,
he waits for insects to adjust
and ignore his presence
It’s a day in the life of a farmer….

Viva la maize!

June 2011, Lin

106

Chest High!Lin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:55-04:00

Memorial Day ’04

Summer’s breezes lapping
leaves of richest green
Sunshine drenching
eager plants

Prairie moments
captured, precious
like all of nature
fascinating!

So complex!
so intriguing
microscopic to thousand acres
little snippits
of grand designing
seen scantly
thru a mirror dimly
then gone
then cascading more

tree branches waving
‘Morning!”
flowers nodding
calling
“See me!”
Robins, finches
scurrying

Children laughing, playing
Summer!
Our hearts desires
of family gatherings
outdoor grills
baseball and golf
volleyball and croquet
Swimming! Diving!

Yet, shadows passing
war
loneliness, violence
loved ones dying
loved ones hurt
noise and dirt
anger and rage and
mankind lost in fury
A staff car arriving
officer coming to the door
“We regret to….”
And lives changed

Lessons to be learned
pondered, and passed on
Remembered

105

Memorial Day ’04Lin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:55-04:00

Black Corn!

Yup! It’s true!
If the weather is just right
and the corn has great genes
and the soils are supersized (black)
sometimes the corn looks black!

Today is one of those days!
Heavy cumulous clouds are rolling past
and the corn is over the top, growing
so fast, it’s just amaizing!

Dark, dark green,
ever so lush
breezes combing it in waves
it looks like an ocean of green/black!

Add to that silver reflections from waving leaves
and the fields are really sparkling!
What a lovely day to savor, remember!

How I wish you could see it too!
Couched in knowledge
of this food, fiber, and fuel crop
that we are gifted year after year
to the extent we fill our granaries
to their tops
and then pour mountains more outside!

Days gone by, a poet waxed
“Hog butcherer of the world!’
How much more, we now grow
and export by giant shiploads
this gifted crop called corn.
In a hundred days
a kernel multiplies
five hundred times….

All that,
and we get to see the ocean
sparkling, green and black.

Lin, June, 2011

Special dedication to Laverl Byers, farmer
and Langston Hughes, “Freedom’s Plow”
and Carl Sandburg, “Chicago Poems”

103

Black Corn!Lin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:55-04:00

All Systems Go!

It begins in earlier generations
who till the soil, plant the crops, and tend
Each part becomes a symphony
maybe it’s in our genes?

First came the hunters
and then, giant step for mankind,
farmers
the world would never be the same
food, sustenance, year round

A thousand generations later
a few feed themselves
and, in America, 168 others
with food left over
always

I play in the orchestra
a small part, to be certain
but I can see it
the big picture
here and in my travels

Half a century now
I’ve studied and applied
to do it better
efficiency and productivity the goals
and it’s happened
it is happening

Oh, lots of help, comes my way!
I’m in school forever!
Learned folk, focus their skills
genetics, computers, labs and plots
doing their part
to help me do my part

I study, select seeds
my, how the genetics have grown!
Plant them, in a very large garden
with machinery like a dream
Monitor the seedlings, tiny plants
kneeling in the soil
they and I warmed, communion of sorts
guarding them as I can
from disease and marauders
watching, always watching

Blessed by soil and moisture
sun and wind and more
all systems go towards harvest
a hungry world watching
wondering
how will it go?

This springtime morning I’m sitting
Seeds, machinery in storage
On the launching pad
waiting
It’s raining
Oh, so beautiful and soft
mothering the black soil so
filling the cup, I suppose
offsetting the oft dry August

I need grandma back this morning!
At near a hundred she would say
“We’ve always planted, always had a crop!”
her wicker rocker back and forth
her words were often soothing.

I yield to a Higher Power
to some and Invisible Hand
but not to the farmer
God is here, every step
in every thing
and me….

Selah, Lin April (showers) 2011

102

All Systems Go!Lin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:55-04:00

Surrounded by One

I lay abed one morning
wife snuggled at my side
thinking about her world
Indeed I am surrounded

Each room in our house,
is her expression in fact
In shape, in color, in texture,
her art, laid out for all to drink

Take the laundry, sewing room,
where she cuts and sews and fashions
curtains, clothes, and more
each inch is her design, her choice

The windows look upon
her gardens, her flowers, her shrubs, her trees
but wait! That’s another book! Back, I say, inside,
Through the door and into the bedroom
ours for forty years

The bed, the spread, the pillow cases,
the floors, the walls, the ceiling,
are her, expressed in
shape, in color, texture

The bath? Of course we share it
maybe 90/10, but that’s okay!
I’m a farmer, don’t you know,
my world is ‘outcomes based’
and what comes out, is finely treasured

I’ll skip the other bedrooms
suffice to say they’re hers
to move on down the stairs

Kitchen? The pine wood floor
the cabinet doors, the sink, the fridge
each knife, each spoon, each cup
knows her hands upon them

Living room, family room, dining room, office
Every inch, every place, her hands have been there too.
You doubt I am surrounded?

All that is on the outside
inside it’s just the same
She has me all surrounded

Her heart is big enough
for me, for parents, for our children
and then for all they hold dear

We get some chances
to drink in pieces
to glimpse a fine designer,
God

Indeed we are surrounded
if we stop to see
to touch
to feel

Pause, this day,
to think about it
I think you’ll see it too
How love can be
through a person
how we can be surrounded

Praise God
from whom all blessings flow…

Lin 2.10

101

Surrounded by OneLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:56-04:00

Roasting Ears

A certain time of year
a certain time in summer
the maize gets sweet on us
Daytime starch
turns to early morning sugar
much to our taste buds delight!

Sun and rain
soil and genes
do their dance so well
there is a reward for us

Early morning finds us
ripping the ears off stalks
well water coolness is just right
to capture the peak of sweetness

Soaking in the shade all day
the ears are ready for the coals
steaming themselves
tenderness peaks
and the picnic is ready
roasting ears are the fare!

Shucks pulled back
butter dripping
salt for seasoning
we stand around and chomp
Oh, so good!

Like salmon in Seattle
like lobster in Maine
sweet corn, Illini style is perfection!

Here it comes!
Get ready!
Monday is the day!
You are welcome!

July 2010, Lin

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Roasting EarsLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:56-04:00

Bowl Weather

On the banks of the Puget Sound
the town of Edmunds perches
a little area there is known
as ‘The Bowl”
Not hard to picture
this scenic area
nestled, backed against the hills

Middle America, Mid-West,
upper Mississippi Valley,
is a bowl of sorts as well
even though locally it’s flat
from space it would appear a bowl

We get reminders
of that fact
When summer doldrums roll
The Gulf of Mexico sits atop us
the humidity pushes 90
and the air temp competes and wins
Early morning I listen carefully
expecting a fog horn blow

It’s wet!
Windows, houses, trees and grass
all that dwells herein
has been licked by that giant tongue
the water from the Gulf!
Whew!

Corn just plain loves it
water hungry as it is
lush leaves laced with dew
but soybeans? A different story:
molds are prone to attack
choking the leaves and so the plants
moist soil, shaded well with the myriad leaves
and limited movement of air
the bean plants stand helpless
waiting for the searing sun to cleanse them

What a garden, we have here!
Rewards are rich and plenty
our bowl becomes a cornucopia
with a lot of work, and challenges
testing us, stretching us
to tune ourselves to nature

Bowls me over
now and then
but like a tippy cup
I pop back up
to shoulder the load and learn
to soak up knowledge
to do it better
to feed a hungry world….

Lin, 8AM, heat index 105 today (temp/humidity)

099

Bowl WeatherLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:56-04:00

Going to the Well

Tucked just beside old Route 66
and across the way from Lincoln’s court house
a long handled pump sits atop a well
a sesquicentennial marvel

Honest Abe put his hands
on that self same handle you can
I can
pump it too
just like he did
150 years ago or so

Riding the circuit
palavering in the court house
Abe would work up quite a thirst
Like the others
he’d cross the road
and pump up some clear cold water
Anything ever taste the better?

Our wind mill
whirled away
summer day, winter
the pump jack worked
lifting water
sending it through the pipe
to the big horse tank

Faithfully, three generations
cold clear water pulsed on out
filling buckets and that tank
A hundred forty head o cattle
stood and slurped
giant sucking sounds
The pigs, the sheep, the chickens
all drew from our good well

A summer day
haying field
hot, dusty, sweatin’ in the sun,
we’d pause and drink
that cold, clear water
So good going down
pleasuring our dry throat
We’d splash it on our arms
toss it on our faces
wet our hat,
Then back to work

Small and tall
young and old
we all went to the well

Sunday morning
the preacher spoke
talked about a woman
and a special man
Gathered at the well
he offered living water
a kind that never fails
Being smart, she took it
and Him
then brought her friends and family

Two thousand years and counting
going to the well
just like her we’re needy
reminded, many ways
we live and thrive on water
and living water too….

Lin, Lincoln Illinois, Abe’s well…3/20/11

098

Going to the WellLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:56-04:00

Spring Power

Our lives are really surrounded
by springs both big and small
The energy found inside them
serves us every day

Our cars have springs
in brakes and doors
hidden here and there
Kitchens have them every where
in drawers and doors and little machines
switches and light fixtures all rely
on the power in the springs

Trains and planes and great big trucks
count on springs to stop them
Big and small
they serve us all
seldom noticed, if at all

That hidden power comes to us too
hidden in other things
Winter bonds loosening
the grass begins to green
buds begin to swell
Earth’s blanket coloring
pushed by an unseen spring
is really pretty awesome
if you stop to think
Add in the coming blossoms
the flowers that springtime brings
Nature is power
harnessed from above
created, laid out, sure
It sings,
it blesses
as it uncoils to impress us

Summer and winter
springtime and harvest
Sun moon and stars
in their courses above
Join with all nature
in manifold witness
to Thy great faithfulness
mercy and love….*

Lin, Come on Spring! 3/2011
*Thomas Chisholm, William Runyan, 1923

097

Spring PowerLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:56-04:00

The Remnant

History is laced with them
keystones of the seasons
little wedges
placed just so
at just the right time and place
to connect the dots

Governments come and go
people swirling, dancing briefly
passing on and far away
So often, it seems to me
just a little group
just a few folks
take control
Fists holding tightly
Swords always at ready
slashing away dissenters

I picture mighty Egyptians
chariots racing
chasing Hebrews across the desert
My mind’s eye sees Romans too
chasing Hebrews, chasing Christians
So powerful! So intimidating!
Gone

Leap forward to modern times
a band of Russians, focused
taking command of a vast country
expanding the borders
Fists holding tightly
Swords always at ready
slashing away dissenters

Yet another small group
a manic, powerful leader
taking command, declaring war
brutalizing people, cities, nations
Millions marching, goose stepping
arms held forth in salute
attacking, expanding
slashing away dissenters

In America today
small groups seething
some with fists clenched, raised others with anger and guns
lashing away in frustration
blinded in hate

There remains a remnant
people aligned with God
people sold out to Jesus
who flavor the earth with love

They serve others in Christ like love
marrying to serve, raising children to serve
serving in churches
spicing communities
even government

So often they are out of view
not in the papers
not on tv
never in the news
They quietly serve

The remnant people save us
putting forth The Way, The Truth, Life
here and forever

Take two steps back
calm yourself
you can see them!
Encourage them, please,
as you go along
Lift them up in prayer
and know

His eye is on the sparrow….

Lin
2/11

096

The RemnantLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:56-04:00

People of the Dark

<

Two very different groups
share the night time hours
One stays up late
into the wee small hours
the other awakens early
charged with waiting for the sunrise

Some establishments sit,
quiet mornings, abandoned,
slowly stirring afternoons,
coming awake evenings
Music begins
cigarettes are lit
alcohol begins to flow
Relief from work breaks out
greeting, talking, laughter spices,
the evening eases on
Come midnight things get serious
Music is loud, minds get fuzzy
Finally the hour comes
and folks go home.

The other group is waking up
planning a day of work
breakfast temptations climb the stairs
coffee? Oatmeal? Scrambled eggs and bacon?
The earth is about to move
Clear minds focusing on tasks
as sunlight smothers the darkness
Outside, the air is fresh
laden with morning dew
Engines begin to hum
hands move levers
and work begins to roll

People of the dark
have become people of the light
the day theirs to shape and form
into buildings built
products made
crops planted, tended and harvested

Light swaths the people
and the planet, day side
complex rays do their things
the earth, the people respond in reflection

Two different drummers
two different beats
late night, early morning
all walking the same earth
brothers and sisters of a sort

Some say we can choose
where to put our feet
others say
“We’re born that way”.

Not for me to judge
but to do my part
and do it as well as I can

Someday, I’ve no doubt,
we’ll all lay down
to rise no more
I pray I’m sent
to The Light…
of the world…

Lin 1/2011

095

People of the DarkLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:56-04:00

Men of Distinction

The media seldom notice
but amongst the men of power, renown,
there comes along, now and then,
some fellows, men of distinction

Casper Weinberger comes to mind.
A man of chosen words
moving daily on the world stage
comportment solid, reassuring

I met a local man last night
who had a common thing with Casper
He retired to care for his wife
Stepped away from career,
to care
To live in service for the one he loved
who, in serious illness, needed help

It would be good to have a category
for men and women who do that
who live in service to the one they love
when that person faces decline and death

Now, seven decades aged,
I see that more and more
It happens, but often not noticed,
those of distinction just do it
They rise to the occasion
as if on angel wings

How can we help them
through this time?
By holding up their arms
when they are weary
by giving hugs of encouragement
by caring with them
as they serve in care….

Selah
Lin 12/10
“And He will raise you up, on eagle’s wings,
bear you on the breath of dawn.” John Groban PZ

094

Men of DistinctionLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:57-04:00

Who Gives This Woman…

A certain honor is given
to the father of the bride
He’s been there along the way
birth, teething, walking and running
Little arms around his neck
riding high on his shoulders

Along the way she grew
and suddenly became a woman
so quickly, it happened

Comes a day
grand as grand can be
folks in their finest gather round
to witness vows being taken
Relatives, friends, friends of friends
associates of various ilk
watch the procession
of bride and groom
and particular people.

Mother has been seated
sealing the aisle for good
Slowly, one step at a time
the decked out attendants come
take their places
and now the bride, with her dad, dad, daddy!

Daddy!
I’m frightened!
Hold me tight!
Never let me go!

The little girl is there
in a thousand memories held
Slowly down the aisle they come
daughter holding dad’s arm light

And then the question comes:
Who gives this woman to be married to this man?”
He knows the words to be spoken.
What am I doing? Giving my precious daughter away?
Will he love her and protect her
even better than I?

“Her mother and I”, spoken at last,
and he lifts her vail
gives her a kiss
then sits with his bride.

Memories swirl
just yesterday
they were married the same
Her dad gave her
with the very words
then they were husband and wife, one

In the beginning
God created
then set his couple free
Given minds, bodies, spirits,
an earth sculpted to His design
heaven was part of earth

The freedom twisted, became
less than heaven
there we remain, to live
one foot here, and one foot there
free, but captives in a way

The rains came
with thunder, with lightning
and so they do today
All nature points us heavenward
to help us know ourselves
and taste a bit of God, the Father

Maybe we should change our lines
and have the mother of the groom
give him away as well!
“His Father and I”,
the groom’s mom might say?
Oh my!
They might all cry ‘We do!’
Four voices as one!
The congregation too?
That’s a thought!

Settle down, dad.
Step back further.
Say your lines,
let go.
The preacher nails it very well:
“Whom God has joined together,
let no man put asunder!”

Selah
Lin, to my friend John 10/10

093

Who Gives This Woman…Lin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:57-04:00

Juxta…posed

So here I sat
in great grandma’s wooden chair
the spare my office has
Next to me
back straight as a Marine
sat the latest geek!

I the geezer,
he the geek,
gazed at the computer screen
menus flashed
as he clicked along
Talk about fast!

My 120 year old chair
didn’t care, as usual,
but just think of great grandma sitting there
upstairs the washer hummed
cool air filled the room (geo-thermal)
electric lights made vision easy
and then comes the computer…
Giga bytes of memory
high speed connectivity
to the cyber world and Deere

My geek a natural speedster
taking to computers like, well, you know
College trained, company trained,
linked by cell phone to even more tech
Lightning clicks, directing the download,
entering info scoped on me
the farm
the fields
planting
harvest
plant varieties
yields
site specific info

Could it almost be
a foretaste of glory divine?
Where intelligence is crystal clear
where God and man continually dine?

For you see, we know
so little
And each step along the way
we discover ‘there’s much more out there’!

Froth a behemoth first computer
to Blue Waters at the U of I
mechanical, electrical ‘intelligence’ grows
faster and faster and faster
until, who knows
what comes next?

My tech friend leaves
and I get his chair
Great grandma’s goes back in waiting
for another day
when some other person
connects me with some new knowledge
new power
to do it better

God bless the young folks!
And God grant us old folks peace
and courage to keep going forward!

Selah, Lin 9/10
John Deere Apex, Farm Management Software

092

Juxta…posedLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:57-04:00

Little Bitty Mountains

Under our radar
lots of things hide
Whole worlds of little plants
little animals
grow and survive

Earlier I wrote
of God’s favorite color
(that being gray, that day)
Well I now have discovered
most interesting plants
or animals
or we’re not sure what to call them

When a fungus marries an algae
it produces a lichen
Symbiotic, they are, they say
They live all around us
but it takes a scope
to really observe them

Wow! Mountains so small
yet so finely made
they grow and explode
spores all around us!

We find them on bark
on rocks here and there
What fascinating … things!

What good are they
we’ve yet to discover
but how neat to pull back
yet another cover, to find
God’s creation so complex
we are left here to wonder
what we’ll discover next!

Lin 8/1/10
“This is My Father’s World” Maltbie Babcock

091

Little Bitty MountainsLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:57-04:00

Good and Tired!

A farmer’s life can be a challenge
to body, mind, and spirit
But in those challenges
comes good as well

The body has its limits
borne out in getting tired
Muscles ache, complain and more
but for these a remedy exists

The family room holds a recliner
a great big chair that folds
actually it enfolds me
as I lean back, and melt in
my body plainly speaks
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

A thousand blessings surround:
the prairie lives in peace
I worship as I choose
air conditioning (geo-thermal)
electricity in abundance
water better than champagne
a loving wife
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

Surrounded by abundance
nature at full speed
harvest coming in aces
Nature is singing praises
and my spirit can go along
It’s not just in the stars His handiwork I see,
nor in majestic winds and clouds
It’s in myriads of plants
fascinating animals
and continual discovery
of grand design
It is good.

A rest and I’m up an at ’em,
going again to do a thousand things
I’ve never done before
and a few I’ve done again and again!

I’m good, satisfied,
and tired can be good too!
Yes, I’m good and tired!
And it’s okay!

Lin Summertime, 8/10

090

Good and Tired!Lin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:57-04:00

Horizontal Rain

Now, folks in Seattle
know their rain!
It falls, ever so gently
and so often.
It creates lush flora and fauna
and cleans the air
crystal clear scenes are precious.

The prairie folks
in the flyover zone
have a different rain
Horizontal, they call it
Let me explain

Just yesterday I labored
inside a brand new shed
Fifty feet wide, seventy feet long
with giant doors for giant machines
Thunder boomed, lightning cracked
closer and closer it came
A wall of rain was visible
across the fields ’twas coming
Ting! Ting! big raindrops hit the metal roof
The east door open, I worked in the west end.

The wind picked up, as did the rain
which now was pounding like a snare drummer
Ten feet, twenty feet, the rain came in
and then I was getting wet!
Sixty feet from the door, and I was wet!
That’s horizontal rain!

I might add, it felt real good!
Hot as I was, and sweaty
The cool rain drops refreshed me
Outside, the dry soil was gulping down
The corn leaves frantically waved and thrashed
happy to take a shower
Strong, the plants,
bending in the wind, but resiliant too
they stood the test, endured

More cracking lightning
more booming thunder
wave after wave of intense rain
then it was softer
and then just sprinkles
thunder, lightning distant

The sun came out to greet us
Me, the corn and beans,
all happy with our drink and shower
ready to keep on working

Oh, creation is wonder filled
wonder full
I am so small in many ways
Power just passed
power remains
My time is short, and I must hurry!

Selah, Lin 8/10

089

Horizontal RainLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:57-04:00

Lake Beds

The rain on the plain
can flood the fields
and cause some plants to drown
Nothing to do but watch it happen
and wait
and wait

The warmth of the sun
and breezes blowing
soak up the lakes in time
But the plants are dead
and the bare spot beckons
rich soil, waiting

At just the right moment
no longer muck or mud
I’m back with the planter
and loaded with seeds
snuggling a fresh batch in

Moisture, warmth, and mothering soil
are electric to the seeds
They swell and pop a shoot right out
and grow like there’s no tomorrow
Hurry! Grow like crazy!
The race has just begun
to beat some frost
that will surely come
to keep the harvest small

Lake beds yield
but not the same
the weight of water squeezes
Compacts the soil
limits moisture movement
limits space between soil particles

Dynamic, the farm is movement
The farmer, the machinery,
the many things that come together
that cause one seed to multiply
returning hundreds ere winter comes

Each step has its mysteries
as to why things happen so
Deeper, ever deeper,
we study and learn
Finding design, designees been there

The map’s in the soil
in the seeds, genetics
in the chemistry, the weather
in you, and me

A joy to learn a part
and happiness to play it well
in our time
For, you see,
He makes all things beautiful
in His time

Selah, Lin

088

Lake BedsLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:58-04:00

Colored Glasses

A lot of folks
put on their glasses
wear them most every waking minute
Some choose dark ones
against the sun
some choose tints
for style, I suppose
I dunno

By far the best
in my book at least
are the ‘rose colored glasses’
that friends use on each other
photo shop, is nothing new!
It’s been used on me
on you
for many years

No blemishes there
no loss of hair, or muss
no shapes that mar
or take away
from love in action
“I see you”
said a chief to a general
way out west one day
The men knew each other’s souls
and respected each other down deep

A mother strokes her child
a father swoops them up
and holds them strong
protected
‘family colored glasses’
are wondrous things

What are we seeing
and how do we see folks?
Ah, a major choice of focus
My wish for you, and you, and you
is for ‘love colored glasses’
touching souls
in beauty

Lin 7/10
Penned for a teacher, who has ‘love colored glasses’

087

Colored GlassesLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:58-04:00

HOH

HJ came, one day,
to the village of Tolono
Walked out west
to stake his claim
plough and ply, plant and harvest
feed his family and others

First he built a lean to
just next to a tiny stream
water
every day, necessity
close at hand

Winter came
the family huddled
somehow they survived
Cold days, frozen soil,
HJ and son would journey
horses and sled
to a local sawmill
hauling back the cut boards
from which the home was built

Still, the stream supplied

Mondays found great grandma
Christina Mueller ne
with buckets in her hands
water from the stream a carryin’
to do the weekly wash

Tuesday was washing day
carrying was too hard
to wash that self same day

A train carload one day
unloaded in Tolono
“Hogsheads’ the containers called
large wooden kegs
some hundreds of gallons holding
HJ bought one, brought it home
buried it by the house

First he filled it
from the stream
and then roof water filled
HJ ran a pipe
from granma’s kitchen sink
down into that big ole barrel

Picture granma’s arm a pumpin’
water into her sink
tears running down her face
so happy
no more carrying water
from the nearby stream

A windmill went up
and a pipe went down
deep in the prairie soil
down and down and down
into the hiding water

No more dipping buckets
into the hand dug well
the cows could grow in number
HJ could use that energy
to feed more cows, more sows
the farm could grow in output

Jump forward a hundred years
cities now abound
deep wells into aquifers
big pipes delivering water
connecting cities even

That pure, sparkling water
now pipes past our farm home
a little pipe, ties us in,
right in to the kitchen
Picture a woman
at the sink
holding a clear glassful
tears running down her face
as she rejoices
no more scrubbing stains
no more ruined clothes
whites are white, not iron yellowed
another happy woman!

We human beings
mostly water we
stay close to water daily
yet appreciate it only little
until it’s gone
or ruined somehow
poisoned, against our drinking

Two steps back
start thinking
about wise using
tuning in
to save ourselves
a make a way for others
to treat our world more kindly
to leave it ever better

Maybe a hundred years from now
some lady will be standing
at her kitchen sink
tears streaming
in thankfulness, thinking
about how precious, is the water
we preserved, kept pure
for her, and all her family

Selah, Lin 6/10

086

HOHLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:58-04:00

Loving Kindness

Lots of ways to approach this
in one word or two
a whole string of meanings
and all movers and shakers

I saw it just yesterday
when my wife, the daughter
jumped up to get her dad a spoon
She could think his thoughts
and sense his problem
and she moved immediately in lovingkindness

I saw it just yesterday
when my wife, the mom
whipped up an awesome cake
She could think his thoughts, our son
and connected with him and his family
she moved immediately in lovingkindness

I see it so many days
when my wife, the person
is moving as His hands
within the impulses of lovingkindness

It is a life unfolding
in serving others
sensing their needs
providing
filling their cups
with lovingkindness

Hugs, kisses, pats
listening, listening, listening
and knowing
wisely silent, wisely sharing
She’s a little bit of heaven
to those of us who know her

Bless her, Father God,
as she goes upon her way
your way
coloring the earth so beautifully
with lovingkindness

Lin 03/10
Constance June Perry Warfel (kay)

085

Loving KindnessLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:58-04:00

The Pounding

Prairie rain can be profound
pounding earth into hardened brick
pounding people caught out in it

Thunder booming
lightning crashing
big drops splashing, blinding
wind whistling a frantic tune
Nature on the run!

The trees twist and turn
and thrash about
bits of leaves falling down
branches cracking with the strain
grass laying over, giving in
brushed one way for a day

The farmer watches powerless
save for the quiet prayer
he feels for his plants
crops no place to hide, no respite theirs
just stand and take it, best they can

And then it’s over
dripping from the roof and trees
water gurgling in the gutters
ditches flowing lots of water

Away it goes, streams to rivers
rivers ever bigger
and then the gulf, or mighty oceans
to lie and wait the sun transference
into the air, into the clouds
to find its way back here

Blessed, are we
with ample rainfall
to water us, and water plants
water through the seasons
the tiny part
we can drink
so fine
so beautiful
so pure

Thank you Lord
for many blessings
Summer rain among them!

Lin, Thunderstorm, 6-10

water comes from:
97.5 % oceans
2.5% fresh, 70% of that is frozen (poles, glaciers, permafrost)
All living things have about 0.75% to live on, mostly underground
Agricultural use:
Britain-3%
United States-41%
China-70%
India-90%
World as a whole – 70%
source: The Economist, May 22, 2010

084

The PoundingLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:58-04:00

The Great Spring Itch

Childhood memories hold them
and all through school they went
Feelings of ‘wanting out!”
start itching
with the warmth of sun
and longer days

Yawning in the morning sun
shaking off the frost
I walk across the frozen skin
soon to be blackened mud

Cold iron lies in waiting
engines wintered long
oil like syrup
drags them back
resisting, resisting, then
Roar! they spring to life!

Oh, it feels so good!
To stir the pot of spring
plans coming off the papers
into piles of seeds
and machines pawing to work

The soil that looked so lifeless
sprouts hair fine tiny plants
they leap and grow
and color the land
green, is coming again

Maybe they scratch
the soil where it itches?
Maybe they reach inside me
whispering messages “Wake up!”

At any rate
I’m up
mind racing with a thousand things
then calming with the earth
Patience, says the soil
Flow with me
treat me gentle
I’ll reward your efforts!

“Oh beautiful
for spacious skies
for amber waves of
for purple mountain majesties
above the fruited plain
America, America
God shed His grace on thee
and crown thy good
with brotherhood,
from sea to shining sea.”*

Lin 03/10
*America the Beautiful text: Katherine Lee Bates, music: Samuel A. Ward A

083

The Great Spring ItchLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:58-04:00

In The Room With Lynne

Alone but not really,
my room flies along
Sixty miles an hour
floating along the road

Sun shining
breezes blowing
view of fields and byways passing
My journey takes me northward

Minnesota in my radio
music mends my spirits
Bach, Mendelsonn, more
fill my car with sound

I’m prone to sing along
operatic melodies flowing
sometimes I help direct
in a stumbling humbling way

Then the piece is over
silence fills the room
a voice is saying something
commenting on the music
on the master
on the times and places

Lynne Warfel’s in the room
her voice assured, knowing
so very much ’bout music
and it’s good

Names like Rachmaninoff,
oh so many names
from ages past
their music stands the test of time
their scores are still the living
breathing music
that carries us, sends us
closer to… something

What was it inside them,
these masters and creating
that put the melodies,
the counter music
molded it together
caused instruments to be created
and bringing it all together,
creating voice and instrument
creating mind and memory
creating wind and string and sound
creating spirit and ear
laying it out note by note
compounding it, soaring on
across the years, the ages
to me?

A thing called love?
A thing called anger? Passion?
Yes, light and dark
Exalting and depressing
all found in the music

And all in the room with Lynne

Selah, Lin 3/10
Lynne Warfel

082

In The Room With LynneLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:58-04:00

Seas of Emotions

A calm, quiet night
clear, cold desert air chilling
sky blanketed with an ocean of stars
A particular, specific star shone down
on a particular, specific stable
where a little boy was born

A first born
to a woman young
and a Godly man

The cover of time
slipped back in place

Yet, it seems,
almost back to back
that boy became a man
and came to town
Celebration time, the calendar said,
a remembrance of a people set free
Indeed, a cause for joy
and a parade

This particular man
in a specific way
rode through waves of people
Hosanna! Hosanna!
They shouted in happiness
and then it was over

The lowest spot on earth nearby
the lowest spot on earth was coming
Come Friday
the darkness, anger, despair and evil of man
would boil over
And a particular man
in a specific way
would walk a different road
ending on a wooden cross
Spikes, holding Him there
until darkness came
and the earth trembled
and a soldier said “Surely…”

We are created with emotions
We can climb the highest mountainsor sink in agonizing despair
We can laugh, our whole body shaking
or weep, and beg to die

The story has not ended
Because that particular man
in a specific way
broke the rules of life

Yes, he died, was buried,
but He rose again
Fully human, fully alive
He walked and talked and ate with friends

He is the link
between God and man
You see, now, that

“God sent His son
they called him Jesus,
He came to love, heal, and forgive;
He lived and died
to buy my pardon
and empty grave is there
to prove He lives.
Because He lives
I can face tomorrow
Because He lives
all fear is gone
Because I know
He holds the future
And life is worth the living
just because He lives.”*

Selah, Easter, 4/10 Lin

*Gloria and Bill Gaither, 1971

081

Seas of EmotionsLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:58-04:00

Monday Platefulls

The scratchpads are full
maybe over running
It’s Monday morning
and it’s not gonna work!

Too much to do!
Too many places to be!
How is this gonna play out?

Thank the Lord for the gift
of life and opportunity
energy and health and thinking ability

Two steps back
think
prioritize
write it down

Praise for the day
the beauty in it
and the blessings of place
this place
this time
these people

Remember He left His place
to come to our place
to take our place
so we might go to His….

Now move the mountains!
Invest in people
and in things eternal
Just do it!

“Got any rivers,
you think are uncrossable?
Got any mountains,
you can’t tunnel through?
God specializes
in things thought impossible…
and He will do
what no other power can do….*

Selah, Lin Monday morning 4/10
* unknown author of a chorus

080

Monday PlatefullsLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:59-04:00

Monday Morning Fog

Pre dawn cool and dampness
came to a head this morning
Fog wrapped around the farm
settling like a cumulous cloud on us

Eerie kind of feeling
walking out to work
trucks and trains
a half mile away
sounded oh so close
Even the birds were hushed
from their usual sun up chatter

The air seemed so heavy
like it wanted to lay its burden down
I guess it did!
Fogged us in!
Made us feel so small again
so captured by the weather

Rain and snow
ice and wind
each take their turns
And now comes fog
urging us to bow
to recognize
how little we really control

How sweet is time
gently passing
the good old sun
fixing things up
Breaking through
burning away the fog

The Son does the same
He is patient, so patient
He breaks through
‘burning away the fog

“We see through a glass dimly,
and then face to face’…
And is new every morning
with faith fullness.

Selah, Lin 5/10

079

Monday Morning FogLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:59-04:00

The Farmer in the Dell

Times and words do change
people change with them
Take a walk
down merrily lane with me

Pull up your mind’s eye
to picture a wooded valley
stream dancing through it
sparkling water, happy place
a bonny bonny day

I see some lovely pastures
some slowly grazing cows
I hear them call, and answer back
they start to move my way

Milking time
feeding time
throw down some piles of hay
Bucket in hand
I grab the stool
a seat on a peg
begin to fill the bucket

Another day
on the farm
I am part of it
From the soil
tilling, toiling, shaping
like dad and grandpa
I spend my days
in rhythem with the seasons

Growing things
planting, caring, harvesting
Amazed at sun up, again at sundown
My muscles do their work
I am a living farmer

I’ve come to know
another Dell
this one sits in office
One eyed, keyed
it has a brain
and does a lot
to help me farm today
I travel through it
gaining knowledge
zinging around the world
It’s awesome, but ages quickly
three years and out, most times.

Wrapping these things
into one person
the living breathing farmer
day by day we’re changing
Doing it better
doing it faster
subbing labor for machine
yet inside
I’m still the same

Could you see me
in an office
walled away from nature?
The generations mold me
so that deep inside
my life scratches where I itch

I’m home
on the farm
my hope is here forever
as long as life shall last
It’s part of me
I’m part of it
Blessed, I remain
the farmer.

Lin 2/10

078

The Farmer in the DellLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:59-04:00

S and S

Sunshine and snow
after the blow
are so very welcome

The brightness is high
sunglasses a blessing
oh how the world glistens!

Rain changed to snow
ice freezing on trees
silently enduring the burden
then came the wind
laced with snowflakes
round and round it blew

All night the moaning
whistling of wind
roads drifting, cars sliding
CRASH! Tragedy struck…
A precious young girl drove too fast
We all shudder, then weep
when a young one is lost

The sun keeps shining
but our hearts are in our throats
“There but for the grace of God…’

There are other lost young ones
still living, but lost
We must hurry on
to share Good News

Life here is temporary
but heaven is permanent
We need to share
how to get there….

Lin 2/10

077

S and SLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:59-04:00

Color it Life

The Japanese Maple
long a favorite
nestles just outside my door
The frosty nights
and sunny days
have spurred the richest color

Red
Not just any
but one that cries out “Life!”
Electric!

Once a medic
half century a farmer
I’ve seen the color before
On others, injured,
on me, minor cuts
The brightest red flows out

Life! The maple shouts!
I have it but it’s slipping
Springtime birthings
summer soothings
and now fall, crisp and power full

A line’s been drawn
rescission cells
a line that halts the flow of life
now this
a special red

To you, to me
two gifts are given
one a birth of water
the next one a birth of spirit
One to wash away
the other to lift us higher

One a springtime, summer, fall
the other eternal
that’s all

One the choice of others
the other solely ours to choose

Precious the flow
so long ago
Precious the blood, of Jesus

Precious he hung
upon Calvary’s tree
Precious, he died there
for you
for me
Precious the flow
so long ago
Precious the blood
of Jesus….

Lin, Fall, 09

076

Color it LifeLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:59-04:00

In The Trenches

Picture a handful of men
heads together
listening intently
sifting and sorting
bringing to bear
life experience, commitment

Commitment to the Lord
Savior, Immanuel
commitment to serve
together, they pondered
they prayed

People with problems
hurting, needing help
mundane things like money
making things work
important things like structures
whose in charge,
what’s the plan
Should we build it

Men in the trenches
not by demand
but drawn by love
stepping out
spending time
doing the work of leading

Men under fire
often a hidden sort
subtle, but there
a ‘prowling to and fro’ enemy
War.
Ugly war
A fight for men’s souls

So the men gathered
talked and prayed, decided
to keep reaching out
keep reaching up
loving each other and those
in need

Even learned a meaning:
Love is
an accurate estimate
and an adequate supply
of another person’s need….

So they did it
for their time
and time, indeed, marches on
No two hundred year old saints
the wise doctor said
so we too are passing

Ralph, Gilbert, now Dave
Good men
great men
giving
headed towards heaven
now arrived
leaving their marks on us

Selah, Lin 12/09 Elders at Large
Ralph Norton
Gilbert Hollis
David Baker

075

In The TrenchesLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:59-04:00

Summer’s Last Fling

So like the Creator
to color so richly!
Splash the palette!
Throw it at the earth!
Look at what’s happened!

Grass as fresh as springtime
green and growing and loving the cool, the wet
Tree trunks blackened with rain
India inked and clinging leaves
But some, get this, some
with colors defying
Gold and yellow and red and mixes
shocking our senses so quickly

Where did the colors come from?
They were there…
all the time….

Not all creatures
see all colors
but we do, we can
See, and ponder
the changing seasons
Nature nurturing, confirming
the complexity of creation

So we walk upon a leaf carpeted path
breathing deeply the refreshing cool air
Watch a leaf, floating down
Zig zagging, slowly, surely
to a resting place
Soil receiving, welcoming ‘home’
Like us, born of the earth
and returning there

But not like us!
Their colors fade
but ours grow brighter
as heaven’s doors open
and we go home

Lin 10/09

074

Summer’s Last FlingLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:53:59-04:00

July in Illinois

Our pool sits abandoned
it’s called ‘global warming’
No matter we set records
for cold and cold again
No matter we’re wearing coats
in mid July in Illinois
Hold fast we must
to the notions above
What are we thinking
or are we thinking at all?

Have patience, we urge
don’t jump from the ship
or the frying pan to the fire
Maybe that should rather be
from the fridge to the freezer?

Guessing ’bout nature’
the macro of things
our records are hazy
if we have them at all
‘Things happen’, it seems
off the wall
out of the blue
And we’re back to our figures
painting new pictures
after all

Life is an adventure!

Lin 07/09

073

July in IllinoisLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:00-04:00

See, Saw, Seen…

What did I see
just the other night
when the wind did blow and howl?

First I heard
the tympani roll
louder and louder they pounded and boomed
Then flashes of light
zipped and zapped
sizzling whatever they touched

Then a big drop splashed
then two
then more and more and more
All at once a giant firehose
seemed directed at our house!

What did I see?
Nothing but water
as it poured across our windows.

For twenty minutes
then some more
though lesser rain was falling

Finally, I could see
lakes and rivers covered the land
where earlier there were none!
The lakes were huge
the rivers roaring
tearing across the fields

With the morning sun,
I went to my shop
got my gloves and hard hat
then checked my saw
tension just right, chain fresh sharped
filled her with fuel and looked

Saw I wood
for many hours
making ash branches chunks
Sawdust, noise, cut and cut
Eventually I was done

What would be seen
some winter’s night
would be memories of a storm

As the fireplace glowed
we would know
our work was yielding warmth

Seeing, sawing, now seen in full
the story has an end….

Lin 06/09

072

See, Saw, Seen…Lin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:00-04:00

Brother

Life brings precious gifts
for which there are no price tags
One of them is, surely,
‘clicking’, with another person

Happened to me last week,
far from the farm and home
On the shore of Puget Sound
I sat down next to a fellow

He was well groomed and poised
Might say,
“Comfortable in his own skin”
Conversation began
in a casual way
and then just sort of ‘took off.
We bonded.
Ideas flowed and clicked
about the world around us
Two men, one black, one white,
but inside, becoming brothers

Christianity’s like that
giving links
the core in loving Jesus
Histories can be different
but the today
the going forward
can make a bond that holds

How do we assess
How do we address
the slings and arrows of today
and plan our today, tomorrow lives?
I submit
Begin with Jesus

Study him
Meditate on him
Ponder long and hard
Focus on his words, his actions
Take another step
digging deeper
in mankind’s history, and the Jews
It will come together
but not completely, nor perfectly
Indeed we are on earth
and it’s not heaven
So the story’s not all written

It is for us, for you, for me,
to do our part
as best we can
Love God
and fellow man

Savor.

Lin, post Seattle, Rev. Wayne Perryman, 08/09

071

BrotherLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:00-04:00

Alimentary, My Dear Watson!

<

Simply extraordinary
when we think about it
the processes inside us every day

Open the hatch
send something down
and then study from end to end
changing food to energy
the system works
year after year after year.

Some would posit
it’s but evolution
happening, accidentally, over time.
Step by step
for thousands of years
it just sort of…happened.

My mind is simple
won’t stretch that far
so I’m left to wonder

I know a little
having studied it a lot
and lived many decades now
a baby nursing
a toddler smearing
teeth coming…and going
and coming again
Some muscles seen
many so hidden
silently working away
Valves of tissue
molded just right
all this hooked together.
Penny in?
Penny out!
The little one lives to tell
Oh the loads
that enter, leave,
processed, of that there is no doubt!

Simple things like ‘chew’ and ‘swallow’
and ‘feel okay’.
Compounds created to dissolve and use
the chemicals we call food

I have a friend
a professor smart
who has studied it all most deeply
His reaction?
His main thought?
“Every day,
thank God…for your liver!”

Take a moment
and do just that
offer up some praise
you have the gift
to be alive
and chance to understand

Lin 04/09

070

Alimentary, My Dear Watson!Lin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:00-04:00

Treasures

Sometimes we see long lists
names and more names
line after line
page after page
Then it happens
The particular letters
that label one person, known
and treasured

We know
‘the rest of the story’
therein lies value
like treasure buried
in a field
causing the discoverer
to sell all they own
to buy the field
buy the treasure

Love is like that
a husband for a wife
a wife for a husband
a parent for a child
a child for a parent
brothers, sisters and more
who order their lives
build on firm foundations

All in the context
of the Creator
who caused
watches
moves
knows
amends
heals
takes home…forever

Lin 03/09

069

TreasuresLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:00-04:00

Salts of the Earth

I have caught a flavor
of some of creation
I’ve found it in people
who I know

Some are close
for many years
my learning grows from them
I’ve watched them
can you see
in many different places

I’ve seen them laugh
I’ve seen them cry
I’ve seen them study hard
I’ve seen them ponder
and sometimes not know
sometimes ‘click’ out loud

Some are moments
along the way
Serendipity, you might say
I’d like to give a taste of both

My farming family
Hank and Ad
Ida and Alfred and more
Don and Dorothy
Jake and Lilly
Lou and Arlie for a few
Then there’s mentors
folks I’d copy
like Stan and Marie
Bob and Dee
Dale and Virginia too
Kenny and Lorna Mae

Fold in church
loving folks
like Ralph and Georgia
Paul and Jessie
Bill and Virginia
Dick and Ruth
Carl and June
Herschal and Wilma
Ken and Taschia
Jim and Lydia
Gary and Carolyn
Dick and Marge
Al and Margaret
and so many many more

Salting the earth
with their values
flavoring, oh so richly
the meaning of life and living

In it all
above it all
I can sense a Hand is moving
molding
something I can only glimpse
I can see it
then I can’t
I can smell it
then it’s gone
I feel it oh so strong
and then
where is it?

My thinking grows
with reading, watching, listening
with loving spouse
children
grandchildren
I sense it coming together
and yet it’s ‘out there’
I can’t quite capture
altogether

Indeed,
‘It is through a glass dimly’
even though I’m gaining

Meanwhile I’ll savor
the salt of the earth
In them, I will pleasure

And I will sing:
“God is moving
by his Spirit
moving through all the earth
Signs and wonders
when God moveth
Move of God, in me”*

And

“All over the world
God’s Spirit is moving
All over the world
as the prophets said it would be
All over the world
there’s a mighty revelation
of the Glory of the world
as the waters cover the sea.”*

Lin 02/09
*authors unknown

068

Salts of the EarthLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:00-04:00

Minus What?

It’s minus 12
at the moment
Sun is shining brightly
A squirrel just ran up a tree
oblivious to the temp
He’s making his rounds
just as usual
checking his area out
Summer’s harvest
is tucked away
awaiting his preplanned visit

It’s minus 12
and I’m inside
but the house is pretty chilly
66, the dining room
70, my office temp
80 degrees of difference

From 150 feet
below our house
water flows around
warming our house in winter
cooling our house in summer!
round and round it goes

My grandma told me
of ‘way back when’
the winter of ’82
Her parents sheltered
on this land
staked out as their own
A lean to home
a constant fire
a lot of clothes
and cold
Still they made it
built a house
lived through many winters

Worked
they did
from early morning until dark
Every day except the Sabbath
Grew the crops and harvested
fed the grain to cattle

Hogs and sheep and chickens too
Horses pulled their weight
Light was kerosene lanterns
Heat was a big iron stove
Fire the friend
that kept them warm
cooked their food
kept them all from freezing

Life went on
at minus 12
but not the same today
I start the car
warm it up
turn the heater on
drive away in comfort
My office fare
is through the net
high speed signals fly
I drop a note
to you, my friends,
to let you know we’re warm

Remembering
Thanking
those who came before us
to blaze a trail
and leave us better
May we do the same!

Best, Lin January 15, 2009, Minus 12F

067

Minus What?Lin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:01-04:00

Evie

A little girl of 6
smiles and frowns
party gowns and frilly things
A thousand million things
flying around her world

Once was a toddler
looking up
giving hugs that warmed some hearts
Still she leaps
and hugs some folks
some day she’ll knock them down!

Her mind is growing quickly
she likes
she doesn’t
She sings and dances
she reads and listens
and yes she talks!
Her laughter is so beautiful
Oh, so many ways
she fills the days with good
with blessing

Taller and taller she seems to grow
in no time passing mom
What child is this
born in love
nurtured in love
living in love and grace

Evelyn, Grace,
Happy Birthday!

Love, Grandpa
September 28, 2008

066

EvieLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:01-04:00

The Waiting Father

The waiting Father
and the waiting farmer
have some things in common

An idea is born
some winter season
spoken
and comes to being

Springtime finds the chosen seeds
carefully placed in soil
Mothered well
tiny plants poke up
and drink in sun and water

Oh, how they stretch and grow
taller and taller through the days
days of warmth, and days of wind
days that stroke, and days that test
taller and taller they grow
then birth their seeds
marked with mother and father

All along,
the harvest season
has been a part of the plan
Some day, you see,
the harvesters roll
set their sickles, fine tuned
to the plants
and begin the final swaths

The plants devoured
but the seeds carefully saved
are food for today and tomorrow
and seeds for next year’s harvest

Nestled in this tale
is a time
just before the harvest
When the farmer waits, knowing
the time is coming
Patience? Oh the virtue!
He sleeps in peace
and watches with care
day after day
He waits.

In another dimension
yet there all the time
a waiting Father
thought
spoke
created
and watches
His people move
across the earth
from the soil, till the soil
become the soil again, except
In Him
their spirits are forever
He’s waiting for you
and for me

Selah
Lin 10/08 Waiting

065

The Waiting FatherLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:01-04:00

Good and Tired

Oh yes, our bodies ‘talk’ to us
in ways we understand
Sometimes adrenalin just plain soars
and we thrill to go for the ride
but other times we glide
Slowly
more slowly
til we want a place to hide
and sleep

No telephone a ringin
no one knocking at the door
Just some time to slip away
lights out
maybe even snore!

Then there’s times
when work is done
the clothes in the washing machine
the hot shower soothing oh so good
and we settle in somewhere

Something favorite to drink beside
perhaps a book to read
We might even ‘Ahhhhhhhh’, and ‘ahhhhh’ again
as the good tired comes

Life has rhythms
to be sure
of soaring and of gliding
of rising up, and settling down
each one precious to enfold

For it is in the rest
our bodies rise, refreshed
and feeling oh so fine
Something in creation
surges in those cycles
and we are once again
left to ponder
the mysteries of creation.

Lin 08/08

064

Good and TiredLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:01-04:00

A Long Long Time Ago

A long, long, time ago
in place so far away
I sat ensconced
in a classroom large
and soaked up many thoughts

The professor grande
marked with chalk
almost made it smoke
as ideas unfolded
from his mind
and numbers flew like jets

He had these sayings
meant for life
so we took them down in ink
“Read the problem”
he’d tell us twice
or maybe ‘twas a thousand
“Do it the easy way!”
He’d say with a smile
knowing the miles it would save
One thought stood out
that I captured then
and thought since a million times:
“Systematic and Rational”
the fall back pattern
to look for in any problem.
“What’s that mean?”
the students pondered
including me, myself, and I.
All we got from him, I think,
was that ever puzzling smile.

No he’s 90, or there abouts,
and I asked him the other day.
“What’s that mean?”
“I dunno!” He answered.

There you have it!
My lifetime spent
pondering something imponderable!
So now I say it,
as a learned man
but when queried as to meaning
I simply smile
and leave the person
to ponder as I’ve done.

A million things surround us
above our best honed minds
we can learn a lot
but still far short
and ever will it be

You see,
I’ve come to know
that this is earth, not heaven
and I’m earth bound
for a little while
left with many questions

Smile….

Lin 08/08

Reflections on Professor Kenneth W. Perry
From a student’s seat

063

A Long Long Time AgoLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:01-04:00

Fourth on Friday

They come our way
these “Extra Days”
a trick in our calendar minds

This year
Fourth of July
lands on Friday
Saturday looms ‘The Extra Day”

All day Friday
seems like Saturday
Not a weekday lined by work
not a Sunday, lined by church
So, somehow, in our mind,
Saturday is gifted
an extra day!
Friday’s Saturday
but no, not really….

All day Friday
we parade and gather
families BBQ, swimmers flock
then darkness brings the Boom Boom Boys
Thunder rumbles as firecrackers pop
and colors shoot into the sky
for just a few seconds
long plumes of orange (my favorite)
sparkle and fall
and stars explode so bright
Then they’re gone
thousands spent
we watch the smoke clouds slip away

Cars queue up
while little ones
nod their heads and snuggle
wrapped in loving arms

Next day, sun arising,
Saturday comes again!
We can do
all those things
waiting for ‘an extra day’
It’s Yours! It’s Mine!
Get some extra winks?
Read that book?
Take a nap? Get the fix it list

Enjoy your day!
It is a gift
(like all the others, really)
Hum the tune
you love to sing –

“This is the day,
this is the day
That the Lord has made.
We will rejoice and be glad in it!”

Selah, Lin 07/08

062

Fourth on FridayLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:01-04:00

The Prairie Floods

The Gulf of Mexico
seems tucked away
bordered by nice beaches
across the broad expanse of blue
breezes blow and blow
absorbing moisture, by the bucket

As winds are bound to do
they circle round
and move on paths
ordained by some mysterious hand
On their way
the prairie greets them
and there they drop their load

Sometimes welcome
to salve the thirsts
of growing flower and fauna
and sometimes, yes
they get carried away
…the buckets are too many!

The dark clouds roll
the thunder booms and lightning flashes
as rain pounds the waiting soil
raining raining raining
it keeps coming coming coming
until rivers form
and hurry away
overflowing banks and flooding lowlands
the waters cover the earth

The prairie becomes
ten thousand lakes
with water rushing down
lifting soil, moving it too
and making seedlings drown

Whose the boss
when nature calls
Not I, the farmer says
he does his best
to tune himself
to all nature has to offer
but sometimes, nature kicks back
and demands her way
the farmer’s bound to watch
helpless, for a time

Grandma offered wisdom
the history of a century
when it’s too wet
she said ‘Be patient”
we’ve always planted corn
and when too dry
she said the same:
“Be patient”
we’ve always harvested here

So, I wait.
I know
His eye is on the sparrow
I know he watches
me

Amazing love
how can it be
that thou my God
should die for me…*

Lin 06/08

*Charles Wesley, “And Can it Be”

061

The Prairie FloodsLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:02-04:00

Evolution

I looked down at my foot
and reviewed what I knew upon it

Toes that helped me run
racing in the wind
around a cinder track
Toes that helped me jump
far across the sand
Toes that wiggled
at my command
toes are complex things…

I thought about a knee
seniors often do
how they work
what curious design
that they can grow
and do
so many different things
yes, knees are complex things

I thought about the muscles
from toes to wiggling ears
all around my body
the are bound and do their things
yes, muscles are complex things

I though about my bones
how strong they are yet growing
how ‘alive’ they are
in all their places
shaped in so many ways
yes, bones are complex things

I thought about the nerves
bundled and working well
firing messages day and night
as long as life does last
ah, nerves are complex things

Eyes? I’ve studied them
and the many different cells
simply amazing
hooked to my brain
and working very well

The brain? Indeed so complex
computers compare in awe
of how it sifts and sorts and does its things
and yet there’s even more

Somewhere in me
there lives a soul
that lives and breathes with wants and wishes
to understand it all

Taken together
I’m a complex being
indeed unlike any other
so much I do not understand

But I know whom
I have believed
and am persuaded
to keep that
which I’ve committed
unto Him, against that day.*

Lin 06/08

*Daniel Whittle, based on 2 Tim 1:12

060

EvolutionLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:02-04:00

Fruits and Veggies

Hands unseen
preparing the soil
planting the seeds
cultivating the crop
harvesting
…and placing the fruits in boxes

Hands unseen
along the way
some will bear some blisters
some a cut or bruise
But, be assured
someone bled for you
to have that fruit or veggie

They bless our bodies
help us grow
help us be a healthy bunch
Inside, the chemistry works
further in
a soul abides
there some hands have been

A man was born
long time ago
he walked the earth
like you and me
But he was different
pure, you see
never a spot or blemish
then a crown came to be
thorns, a raucous halo
and lashes
upon his back
via de la rosa
and his hands were marked
nailed to compensate
bled for you and me

And we have life
our chemistry works
as long as we shall be
and evermore

059

Fruits and VeggiesLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:02-04:00

moms

She Knows

This place…
From ceiling color
to spider web
from every crack or scratch
on every floor
From every wall where pictures hang
Every window
Every door

She knows this place…

These people
From parents who begat her
Held her, marveled at her birth
and loved her ever more deeply
through the years
To husband, lover
friend companion
To each child born
Sought and welcomed
Loved in turn forever
From topmost hair
to their toes
She knows them

Wherever she is
becomes the home
and she will know it better
begin to mold, to shape, to color
as only she can do

Wherever she is
her people know
shelter and love
are under her wings

Yes, change will come
to people and places
but the God born woman
shows us Him
moves us closer
ever closer, to see
He knows
as she knows
these people, these places…

Lin 03/08

058

momsLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:02-04:00

Memories

Pictures snap a moment in time
to remind us again and again
of special people
and special times

My office walls are graced
with many I remember
and some I contemplate

A group of twenty
hard working souls
who chose our president
becoming friends along the way

A sign in India
about a well
and links to Champaign Rotary

A senator, Paul and me
seated in Springfield chambers
The senator now gone
Paul healed of cancer
soon to visit France
and my father’s battleground

American Indian brave
seeking God
atop some western hill
Another chief
white haired now
teaching a group of boys

A friend’s small child
smiling down
eyes bright and eager
surrounded by smaller shots
birth to crawling
oh how incredibly precious

On my desk
a special pair
a doctor and his wife
lifelong teachers
of all that’s good
all that’s worthy
faith, a firm foundation
a little bit of Jesus
for us to see, to study
and try to grow like them,
like Him, their Savior

Here I spend
a lot of time
putting numbers in places
But above it all
family and friends
lift me up
to special heavenly spaces

Selah Lin 03/08

057

MemoriesLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:02-04:00

Mom/Els

A family gathers round
a bed with crisp white sheets
the patient lies quietly, eyes closed
simply breathing

Someone holds her hand
warmth passes between them

The hand that has touched
since our life began
now squeezes ours
“I’m here”, the message sings

Our hand caresses her brow
smooths the gray hairs back
the moments pass so quickly
yet, time seems to slow to a stop

“Mom”, we say again and again.
“I love you, mom.”
Is all we can say.
Our hearts get stuck
high in our throats.

A nurse comes in
to offer help
whatever can be done
to aid in comfort
for mom and us
“Blessed art those”
comes to mind,
for those who try to help.

How did all the years
go past with blurring speed?
We’d like a few more good ones
We’d like to spend more time
together
anywhere
just being together
But life is slipping slowly
away as we can see
We know
mom is passing
nothing can be done

So we hold her hand
and stroke her brow
and speak of special times
hoping, praying
she can hear
and somehow
our voice will help
as she slips to heaven’s door

Selah, Lin 1/08

056

Mom/ElsLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:03-04:00

Jan’s Garden

Dreams come in flowers
of differing shapes and sizes
colors and textures,
to become paintings and murals
that speak to us all

Room settings at Jan’s
found out of doors
speak imaginations
worked into being

While God created flowers
Jan puts them together
in most pleasing ways
to ‘talk’ to us with pleasure
to color our days

She challenges limits
and pushes still farther
to sculpt from the prairie
a garden so grand
it’s tops in the land!

Here’s hoping she’ll rest
now Garden Walk’s done
savor and study
the favor she’s won!

The dreams became real
and now move about
in memories and photos
of the thousand who came
who saw
who exclaimed:
“Wow!” “Beautiful”
over and over again

May the gentle rains
give you ease from your watering
May the summer sun
ease up to moderate
and may you enjoy for a long time
your day in your garden
Garden Walk, 2005

Best to you, Lin 06/05

055

Jan’s GardenLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:03-04:00

Remembering…

Birth and death are linked just so
often it seems, as an older family member passes
a new one is born

I’ve been touched by death along the way
Grandpa Warfel, on a hospital bed
my sister and I had been brought
so his final wishes could be spoken
In my mind’s eye, still
at age 13 then,
I picture clearly I laid my head on his chest
as he spoke what he wanted to say
I could feel his heart beating
and knew he hadn’t long

Grandma, then grandpa Hinton
were next to go, although
they always seemed far away
I didn’t see them much
and wasn’t close at all to them
So I remember their funerals
but both in a surreal kind of way

Then came Grandma Warfel, 96
passing in her sleep one night
Having visited with childhood friends the day before
laughing, remembering, she slipped away
Her simple wisdom remains in me
in so many different expressions

Then came Papaw, my step dad,
so much like my biological father, I’m told.
Neat guy! So bright! Great vocabulary!
Fun! We worked together learning farming
until illness pulled him away, slowly declining
Parkinson’s. A tough one.
I sat with him through the night
pneumonia challenging each breath
stopped, but his heart kept beating!
I quickly stepped across the hall
where my exhausted mom was sleeping
and we stood by his side
as a nurse listened to his heart
two long minutes, and it stopped.
I stepped out into the hallway
and looked out a window south
to watch the sun rising, beautifully…

Next came mom
and once again in the middle of the night
My sister and I were at her side, holding her hand
systems had been failing
and she spoke no more
but I talked with her of happy times
until her last breath came
and she moved from this earthly body
to the heaven she was certain

Grandma Perry was next to go
again our family was there
injured in an accident
we spoke to her of special times
and then she stopped breathing
released from pain, and suffering
Death came quickly to her.

With all these passings
I was aware
at funerals, were small children
and expectant mothers
The seasons of life laid clearly out
the generations represented

Life is precious
and days are counted into years
we, not knowing, must do our best
to act justly
love mercy,
and to walk humbly with your God*

Lin, 9/2011 *Micah 6:8

054

Remembering…Lin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:03-04:00

Shovel Ready

Tools of the trade
are varied and many
Sculpted by hands
shiny from use

Favorite tools
have a special place
for those who use them often
Some are passed down
through generations
gaining in honor steadily

Oh, the memories
that go along with them!
Priceless, the tools become
as they wear
the marks of thousands of usings

A two pound hammer
a little sledge
is one I often use
Grandpa Clementz used it
to budge some stubborn bolts
My step dad used it too
I got it without a handle
and promptly added that
then used it heavily one summer
in tearing down old buildings
Sunup found me pounding, prying
knocking down
the hired man’s house and barn
No longer used, the buildings stood
so the lumber was recycled
The hammer is a favorite
so handy as it always was
pounding stubborn things
to fix the old or make the new

A special shovel’s ready
to scoop the grain we grow
A shiny handle with the marks:
“A W” distinguish it from others
My grandpa spent his lifetime
scooping grain, feeding cattle
Oats and wheat, corn and soybeans
were moved from trucks to bins
scooped out again and into feed
for hungry critters growing

This scoop was special
new tools were very rare
but this one was aluminum
thus lighter weight by half
than steel shovels, the standard fare
My mind’s eye still sees him scooping
a steady rhythm going
I’d join him with my kid’s size shovel,
admiring that polished silver

A half century passing
grandpa’s shovel is ready
to move a pile of grain again
Now it’s my rhythm swinging
the sound’s the same
as the shovel digs in
then grain slides off ker chink
Hours pass, and chore is done
one more time
an empty bin is waiting

I’ll not take the shovel with me
to comfort me in a casket
it will need another’s hands
to keep it shiny, used for work
whether grain or snow
it will only be ‘just right’
when it will be swinging
doing what it’s intended to do
it’s shovel ready!

Lin, 8/2011

049

Shovel ReadyLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:03-04:00

The Quiet After

An office sits quietly
the desk chair empty
for 74 years
the door would close
and confidential matters passed
between client and counselor

Documents streamed from typewriters
and then from word processors
putting down in black and white
lives coming, passing
deeds and contracts and taxes
forms filled out and witnessed
to wit

Ah, it was good
to be a part
to share with a gentleman
and be encouraged
man to man affection, respect
passed along with the papers

Of all the things he did
land seemed a special attraction
In many senses he was a farmer
of the law
and, too, all the things
that come together
to have a crop, and sell it

Now we have the quiet after
reflecting on his life
of near a century
In peace he passed
fitting
as in life
he worked out peace
for us

Bud Hatch, 7/2011
Lin

052

The Quiet AfterLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:03-04:00

Time Was

Time was, sometime ago,
when my vision had a problem
Mom, of course, knew the fix
I got my first pair of glasses!
I learned what I had been missing

Time was, sometime ago,
when my vision had another problem
a retinologist laid me down
a nurse held me down
and a lazer fixed my eye
from a blood red thick curtain seen
the world came back to sight
I knew what I was missing

Time was, sometime ago,
age caught up with my eyes
I just couldn’t see precisely
doing my work got harder
my quality slipped a bit
but a doctor laid me down
put me into la la land
and I awoke to better vision
cataracts can cloud ever more
but now I’m fixed again

Time was, and is, it marches on
and bodies do wear out
Just this week
a nice young lady and her machine
checked my hearing and frowned
“Mr. Warfel”, she said to me
“I think you need to consider…
some help with hearing.”
I had been told
by those who love me
I was missing things they said
I knew I had a problem.

So off I went, again,
to get some hearing aids
That nice young lady, and I
talked it over
and I chose a particular pair
Whew! They’re expensive!
Like everything else,
the better ones cost more…
But I chose, and she programmed
(everything’s computer nowadays)
then I plugged them in.

Once again
I learned what I’d been missing.
A lot of sounds
the creaking of the stairs is louder
my own voice is amplified
many things sound different
I learned what I’d been missing…

Another step
up the age stairs
and once again I’m happy
for skilled people and their machines
that make my life the better
And I’m full of thanks
for so many things
beginning with the Creator
and the One who is with us
all the time
every step of the stairs

Selah! I saw that! I heard that!

Lin 3/2011

051

Time WasLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:03-04:00

Two Becoming One

Passion and peace
can so melt together
a little glimpse of heaven can be had

When the created come together
as the creator did purpose
with His blessing
and the blessing of the family
the blessing of community
the blessing of the church
and the blessing of society
youthful passion can certainly soar

The mysteries of creation
‘Male and female He created them.
In His own image He created them.
And it was good.’
in discovery, giving to each other
create moments of passion blessed

From those unions
a child is given
and love that knew no bounds
grows, stretches, grows again with the child

Someday
the child is grown
and meets another
and the magic, the mystery
brings a grandchild

The child brings moments
a little head relaxing
melting into our neck
secure, at peace
and perfect rest
The grandchild does the same
and we remember

Decades pass
the two more and more
one
Paul and Jessie
Dick and Ruth
Al and Margaret
Lin and Kay
and a new peace is born

She can take his hand
or rest her head in his shoulder
as can he
they can be at peace together
Fifty golden years together
two becoming one
and ‘God saw all He had made
and it was very good….’*

Lin 3/11
*Genesis 1:31

050

Two Becoming OneLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:04-04:00

Shovel Ready*

Shiny pack of shovels
ceremonial ones, I’m certain
await the portent people
also standing around
A lot has gone before
but now the hour arrives
news cameras
reporters with pen and pad
a loyal interested crowd
line up with shiny shovels
at the ready

A signal word is spoken
“Dig!”
the shovels bite the ground
little bits of earth and rock are moved
construction has begun
a cheer rings out
Teams of men and women
will parade and work the ground
other teams will pour and nail
bolt and weld and build it up
Still more will paint and polish
until a year from now
the shovel ready crew returns

Standing before a completed building
the folks will say some words
and a ribbon will be cut
teachers will man the helm
students will file into class
learning will take place
hands will be on tools of trades
skills will grow, and graduations happen
faces after faces will come
study and do
and go

Mankind marches on
coming, learning, finally working
serving and making things better
Half a million feet have trod
the Parkland campus now
More coming, more learning, more working
they are the faces that help you
at the doctor, dentist, shop
fixing you and your possessions
the oil of society

Shovel ready!
People doing!
Celebrate the folk
who anchor Parkland College
investing themselves in people
…you!

Lin
*EST Ground Breaking, March 2011

053

Shovel Ready*Lin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:04-04:00

Alas and Alack!

Good news and bad!
Another decade brings a date…
My favorite Ed
and my good ole Doc
lay it out quite plain:
Do this! It’s important!

So, I make the appointment
and set my mind
to go through it once again.
Age 50?
Age 60?Age 70?
Some guy gets to see my insides
Colonoscopy, they call it.
Oh boy!

A hospital trip
kill a day
just do it all…their way
They’ll put you in dreamland
if you wish
or you can watch the monitor
if you’re brave and a little nutty

Fascinating
how our insides look!
So complex, our ‘machinery’
Digestion and elimination processes
are combinations, out of sight,
but critical to if and how we live
One of my friends
a learned professor
lecturing to his grad students one day
proclaimed, in an un PC way:
“You should thank God for your liver!”
Well, we should!

Confronted with foods
the liver responds
creating chemicals to break it down
make it useful, to our bodies
Amazing!
But, really, from our mouth
to the southern end
the chemicals, the processes,
are really fascinating!

So it’s good news and bad
good news I’m older, by a decade,
bad news is the test
good news if there’s a problem
it can likely be fixed
and I can enjoy another decade!

Okay! Bring on the Miralax….

048

Alas and Alack!Lin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:04-04:00

A Songbook Closed

It happened just yesterday
a voice was stilled
a hush settled over us instantly

This season of concerts
of music swathing us
wrapping us in emotions and hope
lifting us up higher and higher
has that moment, when,
the concert finished
the songbooks are closed
so often the soloist folds the book to her heart
and there’s just a moment
stillness reigns

The creation of the piece
the discipline, practice of the performers,
the presentation, the gift to those who come
(Oh Come Let Us Adore Him)
the fleeting bonding of performer and listener
all have come together in time

But then it is over
Seconds pass, but just a few
and then comes the applause
people on their feet
Thundering, rolling waves of applause –
Well done! Bravo! Yes!

Folks go home…

Some sixty four years ago,
a baby girl was gifted to loving parents
The song that was in her was shared
a thousand times a thousand and again
She loved, and was loved

What a spirit she had
and what a voice in singing!
“Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,
there’s just something about that Name.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,
like the fragrance, after the rain.”…

Intense.
Clairvoyant, at times?
She blessed us in many ways.

Now the voice is stilled
living in our memories only
But I hear the applause
First timidly
then louder and louder
wave after wave
and I hear a voice
“Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”
“Well done.”

Yes, the concert here is over,
the songbook here closed,
The temporary finished
The eternal has begun!

Rest in peace, Rise in glory,
Debbie Savage

12/20/2010 Lin

047

A Songbook ClosedLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:04-04:00

The Passport

Passages color life
sometimes, seemingly,
a kaleidoscope
A turn here, focus
bright times shining
passports document places
home provinces
traveling, entries, stamped

Birth to marriage is a passage
A given day
families and friends assemble
(church family too)
“In the presence of God and these witnesses”
two passports are presented
vows taken
stamped “Approved!”

Enter the marriage estate
two becoming one
walk well
the journey continues
yours to color
yours to twist and focus
life’s kaleidoscope….

Lin 1/2011
David and Courtney Graham

046

The PassportLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:04-04:00

Sweet Spots

In the sporting world
there is a spot
a very special spot
it may be a pitch thrown just right
a home run hit, just right on the bat
a golf ball drive
where the ball and the club
connected just right
the ‘sweet spot’

It could be life
the meeting of love…for a lifetime
of a Savior, lifetime and more
or special times less
but still ‘sweet spots’

For me
The Chi O hallway
the door opened
and Kay walked in
to stay…for a lifetime
A small church
a stairway
prayer with Sobol
connection with all things

Children born
count them
one two three four five
each so special
oh so fine
mine
ours
His

In 89
“Farm Leader of the Year”
by my peers
farm leaders all
lifting me
toasting me
Whew!

In ’06
“Trustee of the Year”
Illinois

39 colleges
fellow trustees
leaders all
lifting me
toasting me
Whew!

Each early morning
I pat the one beside me
choose to start the day
acknowledging her great value
her status and her rank
it is then I can look the day full faced
can pray in peace
can study deeply
reflect and offer thanks

I imagine God unlocking
doors to us held secret
until we’re ready,
God, the I Am,
always has been
is now
and forever will be
Yet God moves constantly
by the Spirit
Our challenge is to see
what has been prepared
for me
for thee

Lin 06/06

045

Sweet SpotsLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:04-04:00

The Accountant and the Romantic

The Accountant and the Romantic
are nestled into one
the one I happily call my wife!
Ah, yes, she is an enigma
who chases hard a penny
to make her numbers perfect
and yes, she loves love stories
roses on a trellis, a swinging garden gate
a man and woman deeply in love
finding each other in some night

At first I thought it odd
that an accountant could be so tender
but then I met her dad
got to know him deeply
from trips together near and far
(three weeks in the Antarctic far!)
As we plumbed each other
I found the tender heart
expressed in care for students
long outside the classroom
A love for his mom
that was gripping
a love for his wife
a love for his daughter
impressive
indeed, a tender man
and indeed, an impeccable accountant

I note the common thinking
of putting folks in boxes
neatly defined, contained
in ways we understand them
But if you can I wish you
would step upon the cardboard walls
to know the world outside
as perhaps God can see us
Complex
in His image
God created
put his stamp upon us
set us here for moments
created a forever
where we can dwell with Him

To Kay, 45 years and counting
Love, Lin

044

The Accountant and the RomanticLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:05-04:00

Kernel Richard Burwash

We have a local fellow
steeped in farming for sure
Blue shirt and blue jeans
he’s mingled with country clubbers

Through and through
an honest fellow
what you see
is what you get
a gift, is he,
in many ways
to me, to thee
and our community

Nine decades now
his hands on the plow
he’s preached to sidewalk pounders
about the vagaries of growing
the crops and animals
that feed the nation
freeing most to other work

One moment shines
for fifty years
he sires a sweet corn feat
“Champaign Rotary Sweet Corn Roast”
is him there is no doubt
He sets aside an acre
researches best genetics
plants and tends the very best corn
than picks it, cooks it, shares it free
to Rotary, church and friends

Peak genetics, peak in growing
picked at peak of sweetness
ears spend a day
soaking in cold water
then are slipped in baskets
Twelve big bags of charcoal
white with heat perfection
steam the kernels half an hour
then are spilled in a pile

Fun to see
a line of folks
buttered, salted ears of corn held tight
chomping down
“Mmmmm. Ahhhhh.
Boy that is good!”
“Well done, Dick!”
“Thank you Richard!”
“Three cheers for Burwash!”
And two hundred people
raise their voices
“Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!”

Intelligence in action
compassion for every one
Maybe there should be a title
Could it be “Kernel”?
In that elevated sense
of the very best

Richard Burwash, Kernel
Gift giver extraordinaire

Champaign Rotary Corn Roast 2010

Lin 07/10

043

Kernel Richard BurwashLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:05-04:00

Loving You

Emotions flow up and down
swirling our days
and relationships
One is very special.

A little one
can easily say
“I love you mommy!”
“I love you daddy!”
and be as sincere as possible
But the depth and height and breadth are short
captured by the numbered birthdays

Adolescence takes some steps
bouncing here and there
between a great big ‘self
and discovering others
with hormones being thrown in
Then “I love you” may get said
to someone of opposite sex
but again, though sincere,
the measuring stick is short.

In college years
our subject moves out
into the partway world
Not at home
but not on own
tethered still, by needs
Hormones roar
demanding attention
so we may find each other
And liking that
along the way
may venture forth the words again
“I love you.”

Three little words
that can carry two worlds
yours and mine
to mist away the other worlds
A hand holds a hand
two people hug
and hold
And the world goes away
for a precious moment

The Good Book puts it this way:
“The two shall become one” There you have it.
Linked forever, come what may

The rhythms come
day after day
big things and little shared
happiness, sadness, neither spared
they walk together now
once again saying
“I love you”

Passing days
are many brush strokes
of a painting being done
two framed on one
the canvas measured
as lifetimes are
we start to see a picture

Children coming
parents going
life is always changing ah so busy!
hurry now!
time is slipping by
Grandma and grandpa
together in evening
watching little ones play

there is a knowing
a seeing deeper
and still they are wont to say
“I love you.”
But now the screen is great and huge
flooded with pictures past
I loved you then
I love you now
I’m loving you tomorrow

Some day
I want to say
“I love you’
my final words before I pass
What I held tight
for many years
will fly away
to heaven

I will have known
in tiny bits
heaven here on earth
because of you
and your saying to me
living to me
giving to me
“I love you.”

Happy Anniversary – 46 years and counting!

Lin 12/08

042

Loving YouLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:05-04:00

Fabric…

Pam…

Jan…

Becky…

Kathryn…

Jane…

Jessie…

Joanne…

Ruth…

Bitsy…

Jen…

Kate…

Mom…

Gammy…

Granny…

What stories could be woven
with ladies with whom you share
there’s probably 50 more
who are somewhere ‘out there’

Someday at a sitdown
pencil and paper handy
your story would be glorious
if you would let it go
Your ‘book’, I’d buy,
to get your take
listen to your story
of those around you

Love,

Lin

041

Fabric…Lin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:05-04:00

Losing…

I just lost again
but it wasn’t really personal
Not like some ones I love
some ones I respect

In all of history
one loser was the most
Mankind did their best
to put him lower than low
Spit? Beat? Humiliate?
Hang naked on a cross on a hill
for all to see him die?

In all of history
he broke the chains
to conquer death
and make a way to heaven
for you
for me
How’s that?

A sister did her best
put herself on the dotted line
and worked and worked to win a post
only to lose
A hard, hard thing.

A short time passing,
she has thanked the Lord
for changing how she’s lived
The winner waded in
and found a swamp so smelly
he’s challenged every day
to keep above the smell
While she invests in little people
grandchildren growing quickly
to spend her retirement grace fully

Now comes a friend
who did his best
if he were a bear he’d be a grizzly!
For over a year
he walked the county
meeting people
making friends
then putting up signs
giving his all
His family pitching in
and walking in parades
speaking warmly of who he is
a man of many talents

And he lost.
Another fellow, got the vote
somehow was considered better
A puzzling thing
to understand
The why of this defeat

Life can be
about the changes
that are hardest to understand
Sometimes it’s because
this is earth
not heaven, we need to know
imperfection is the rule

What may be best
doesn’t happen
It makes a contrast easy
We get a glimpse
of what might have been
what makes far greater sense
But it’s our task
to move on through
to do our best today
This day
It is the day
the Lord has given
and we will rejoice
and be glad in it!

Surrounded by
so many blessings
we scarce can begin to count them
Health, family, those who love us
care for us
lift us up, when the world pushes down

I do believe
we’re more than conquerors
through the love of Jesus Christ
Who knew
really knew
that we are sinners
yet gave his life for us

We respond
by lifting high his banner
by lifting up our heads
to carry on,
and on,
and on
as long as we have life

Lin, post-election, 08

040

Losing…Lin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:05-04:00

Constance June Perry Warfel

Forty five years now,
And counting
Kayper has stood the tests:
High prices; low prices
Too hot; too cold
No electricity; no water
Too much rain; not enough

She has been a rib
Close to my heart
All of the way
Morning, noon, and night
Day after day
Year after year

From coed to gammy
Her counsel’s always firm
In her yes
And in her no
Honesty, integrity, have been her mark
Hard to think
Nigh impossible
To ponder life without her

While shaping my life
She has fostered others
Giving them life
Birthing, feeding, caring

We turn to her
For a listening ear and heart
Trusting in her judgment

Steady
Like a rock
Yet surprising
Both shielding us
And leading us
Through her living example

Best of friends
And so much more
Farm wife
Mother
(now `Gammy’)
Reflecting her mother
Grandmothers too!
She is a prize
And precious!

We raise our thanks
That she is ours
And we are hers!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow
For don’t you know
God made her so

05/07

039

Constance June Perry WarfelLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:05-04:00

Fallen Runner

Fallen runner
Race done
Race won

So many touches
So many people
Along the way….

Business?
Hundreds
Success!
Young agents trained
Peer fellowship shared

Faith
Looming large
And larger still
Thru it all
Thru it all
He learned to trust in Jesus
Learned to trust in God
Walking his faith

Ah, Ben and Judy
Devoted
One now fallen
Race done
Race won

Selah, Lin 02/08

038

Fallen RunnerLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:05-04:00

A Lady Passing

We can’t help it
don’t even want to try
Our eyes fill with tears
and, when we’re in the right places,
we simply cry.

Emotions need to get out
we’re really not made to keep them
in the right places
at the right times
we need to share them

A tightness in the throat
something is gripping us
and tears welling up
then falling like rain
is how we’re made
how we need to be

“In His own image he made them,
male and female He made them’…
So a part of God
is in each one of us
Mysteries do abound
and mothers were there
from the beginning

The ability to conceive a child
carry them in secret
birth them into a crying world
nurture them until they stand
until they walk away some day
Then rejoice in their parenting
while caring for parents

In a mother’s arms
in a mother’s heart
we live as long as she,
right there, intimately
breathes, touches

Someday, we know,
she’ll slip away from earth
but remain
in the arms of our memories
in the heart of our hearts

Rest in peace
mom

In Remembrance of June Lincicome, mom
March 28, 2008

037

A Lady PassingLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:11-04:00

Permission

An extraordinary thing
happened along my way
I caught another glimpse of God
This is how it happened:

I sat in church
my beloved close beside me
I watched a family
two rows in front
sitting close together
father, mother, young son at ease
the father put his arm
around his beloved’s shoulders
(again, a common sort of thing in church)
and then the son
aged six or so
reached high for him
and put his little arm around his mom too

Permission shone
to all who saw
to all who drank it in

Permission is a God blessed gift
precious beyond measure

God the father
Awesome God
stretches us so greatly
can be intimidating
(and maybe should be)

Then Jesus comes along
but in a gentle way
extends his nail scarred hands to us
It’s up to us to take them
-sense permission here?-
to join Him or walk our way

If we do
a journey’s born
another pathway taken
doors begin to open
to places not before seen

We can come into His house
call upon His name
and worship Him
Our eyes begin to see
more clearly
Our ears begin to listen
more deeply
Understanding grows
Permission flows
communion is shared

Permission to come to God
happens…

Selah,
Lin 07/06

To Matt, Annie, Israel and Noah

036

PermissionLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:11-04:00

In Remembrance*

In remembrance of Him
I tore a piece from the loaf
an emblem of a will
greater than sorrow
greater than sin

In remembrance of Him
I lifted a cup to my lips
an emblem of life
poured out for us…, for me

Not my will, but thine, He said
then submitted himself to die

In remembrance of Sharon
words of love were spoken
recognition of a life invested
caring for Christ
caring for others

In peace, she slipped from this life
to a place prepared for her
promised, by a waiting Savior

Her will, at last, became perfectly His
and she is in His presence, forever

Grace like Rain, by Todd Agnew

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now I’m found
was blind, but now I see clearly

Hallelujah, grace like rain, falls down on me
Hallelujah, all my stains, are washed away, washed away

Twas grace that taught, my heart to fear
and grace my fears relieved
how precious did that grace appear
the hour I first believed

Hallelujah, grace like rain, falls down on me
Hallelujah, all my stains, are washed away, washed away

*In remembrance of Sharon Garrett

035

In Remembrance*Lin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:12-04:00

I have walked among you*

I have walked among you
some dozen years now
learned your faces
know your voices
can call your names

I’ve heard you speak your passions
seen you walk the lines
of reaching out to help
I know your heart to serve

Together, we have sought out wisdom
invited in, listened to and questioned
the best and brightest in the land
who ply themselves to understand

Together, too, we’ve helped to build
I’ve seen your courage
know your metal
watched you taking action

There’s more to come
change, adapt our middle name
lead is what it’s about

Walking together
speaking our passions
searching out wisdom
changing, adapting, acting
we’ll challenge the mountains
and by God’s grace move them…

My best to you!

*In accepting ICCTA’s Ray Hartstein Trustee Achievement Award,
Lin Warfel quoted from his own poem “I have walked among you”

034

I have walked among you*Lin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:12-04:00

Living Love

I know a piece of love
I’ve read of it in books
Other people know about it
books tell their stories

I know a piece of love
I’ve seen some people wear it
they move in gracious ways
blessing those around them

I know a piece of love
I’ve heard the songs proclaim it
men, women, using words
that circle round about it

It seems that love can build
each age bricks and mortar
strange walls go up
strong, yet allowing passing through
All through life a building
marriage, children, grandchildren
caring for parents
Just when one reaches the top
looking back we see
creation is speaking through the times

For God so loved the world
that he gave his only son
that whoever believes in him
shall not perish
but have eternal life*

Lin 04/09

*John 3:16

031

Living LoveLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:12-04:00

Hats Off…

It’s that time of year, of course,
when farmers gather, ponder
Ever notice a row of signs
along a field of corn?

Company names
in bright catching colors
with numbers and letters all different
A closer look
shows some differences
in height or breadth or color

They’re different hybrids
the result of skills
applied to ‘make it better’
The latest offerings
on display
for farmer’s choice, selection

Just last eve
I attended a session
where company offerings were touted
Their very best
all growing nicely
preached about to us
Me, and my fellow farmers

The study done,
we marched to a tent
where good food was awaiting
A smiling crew
all prepared
to fee the hungry fellows.

And then it happened
a moment so choice
poignant to be certain
“Let’s have a blessing”
said our host
and the caps came off
just like that.

No one said
take off your hats
No one said
bow your heads

The hats came off
the heads went down
work seasoned hands were folded
Boys and young lads
dads and grandpas
as one joined in the quiet
A simple prayer was offered.

I love those people
I’m one of them
Oh yes, we have some questions,
but we know whom
we have believed
and who is able
to keep that
which we’ve committed
against that day.

We know
His eye is on the sparrow
we know
He watches us

We walk in His shadows
we walk in His light
Day after day
throughout our lives
we live in deep communion
We are small
and we know it
He transcends
and He shows it

Yes, our hats come off
for those moments
and then come back on
There’s work to do
and we’ll do it

Enjoy your food
the best the world has known
It’s waiting there for you
Savor the Father
and the Son
the best the world has known
they’re waiting, patiently,
for you….

Lin 08/09

030

Hats Off…Lin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:13-04:00

Music for the Soul

Andy Williams crooning
about the season ‘wonderfull’
Bach and Brahms and Mendelsohn
King of Kings, and Lord of Lords
Forever, forever, forever

Silent Night, Holy Night…
So many artists
putting their arms around what happened
stretching, stretching, stretching
to reach a tiny baby
put it in perspective….

So here we are
two thousand years passing
putting our arms around what happened
and wondering

Wandering?
Ah, a song about that too!

I go for the wonder!
The awesome human attempts
to re-create the wonder, the majesty
that came to us
to each one who looks up
to each one with room at their ‘in’
to stretch, to reach
and put our arms around Him

We know we’re too small
much too small
Like our grand daughter
who tries to put her little arms around me
laughing and loving
full of life, she tries,
but relies on me
to swoop her up
and put my arms around her

Then she can put her arms
around my neck and squeeze
holding tight
“I love you grandpa!”

So we come to God, this season
knowing we’re too small
And God knowing
sent the baby
we can put our arms around
and begin
to know a bit of God….

Merry Christmas, Lin 09

028

Music for the SoulLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:13-04:00

Lady

Words can wear such differing clothes
Indeed
Some are mountain top experiences
One leaps to mind, for those who love Him,
Jesus
Another word has grown as I have
that would be the title ‘Lady’

Sure, she can be a queen
but the word is much larger, not confined
held captive by parentage, nobility
and, Sure,
“In the beginning, He created them.
Male and female he created them.
In His own image, He created them.”

Lady brings together
beauty
mystery
complexity
class
poise
female
and often, mother

Seems men are sort of simple
although they have their ways
Gentleman is welcomed too,
but Lady deserves a pause, reflection
for what she brings to us

She softens the world
sculpting away sharp edges
her hands, her touches,
her knowing looks
smiles and frowns
and questioning expressions
link us to still waters
green pastures
home

And then,
Praise God from whom all blessings flow,
she has a baby!

Lift your glass with me
to give a toast to those
who rise so high and stay there:
“Lady”!

Lin 10/2011

027

LadyLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:13-04:00

Hand in Hand

Lots of memories
as a little lad
my hand captured in mom’s
No doubt, no hesitation
I was ‘in good hands’…

City streets
streaming traffic
mom and I on the curb
Her hand tight on mine
I was her prize
but you know what?
She was mine…too!
I just hadn’t thought about it yet

Years in passing
teen years came
and a girl became a girl
Beautiful smile
energetic lass
could run and throw and catch
but a switch was thrown
and things were different
one day I held her hand
others giggled
LW + JB
she smiled

Days rushed past
a surprise coke date
a lady become someone special
very special
and more special
offered her hand to mine
as long as life shall last

The proffered hand
unfettered, free
has value off the scale
mothers hand, fathers hand,
lover forever’s hand
The hand of God, hovering over us

And along came Jesus, man
a hand to children
to friends
to all who come to Him
reaching out
becoming closer than a brother
becoming father and mother
walking with us
holding our hand, always

Albrecht Durer’s sculpted hands
betende hande
symbol of giving, done
May our hands, my hands,
do as well

Take my hand?

Lin 1/2011

026

Hand in HandLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:13-04:00

How Cold Is It?

Depends, I suppose!
Grandad and I
stood on deck
Antarctica 91
Icebergs ringed our spot
penguins checked us out
Warm, summer, you see,
at zero or there abouts….

Fluffy the cat
with two inches plus
of thick luxurious fur
prefers the outside
instead of my shop
heated to 45

Enter me
bundled to nines
toes and fingers still cold
as I climb a ladder
to check a bin
breath blowing fog
eyeglasses steamed
Starting a truck
uh, uh, uh,
kerboom!
Ker chug chug chug
It spits and coughs
then evens out
but starting, none the less

Then there’s big diesels
oil like tar
fuel at risk of jelling
that just wait for spring
or warmer days
No problem sitting quiet

I remember times
we milked some cows
early morning and evening chores
I sat on a stool
and milked away
my head warming from the flank
and my hands warmed by teats like toast!
The milk steamed
in the ice cold pail
as I carried two to the house
The basement was warm
from a giant coal furnace
as Grandma ‘separated’ cream

We had an axe
we chopped the ice
from the horse tank every morning
Then the cows drank deeply
40 gallons per daily
amazing to see them slurp!

One time in economizing
grandpa got some hay
spoiled, useless, some fellow thought
so grandpa got it free
We heated water
and heated sorghum
mixing the two together
then poured it on
the nasty hay
and watched the cattle woof it!
Problem was
our pants got stiff!
Would stand up in the basement
without us in them!
Ever walk
in frozen pants
and hear them crack and crackle?

There was a time
when cold winds blew
and snow became a blizzard
The sheep were lambing
so I went
to help them through their labor
I couldn’t see
a hundred feet
or even 15 maybe
I hung on to
the pasture fence
to go and find the barn
Once inside
it seemed so toastie
and lambs were born somehow
I helped the mamas
dry them off
then watched the lambs stand up
BAAAAAAAA
(Momma!)
(I’m hungry! Really I am!)
Amazing what can happen

Reminds me of
another story
when settlers first had houses

Grandma served
as a neighborhood deliverer
more common than a doctor
Reifstecks’s lived
across the section
their house a rough affair
One winter day,
a baby came
to a cold, cold room
blankets catching snow
but still he came
that little fellow
who lived to 79!
Again amazing
how we cope

What good’s the cold
you well might wonder now?
It kills the bugs
that eat our crops
and kills the funji
that would kill plants too
For that we must give thanks!

Cold’s a blessing
can’t you see?
So hunker down and dream
of springtime sun
and summer breezes
they’ll soon be on their way
We’ve turned a corner
(winter solstice)
so days will start to linger
each day longer
into summer
just hang on!
The weather’ll change
in just another slumber !

Lin, 12/08
Think “Global Warming’!

025

How Cold Is It?Lin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:13-04:00

Summer Frost

The early morning sun
is shining down on me
It’s my last day of planting
and I’m thinking about frost!

Why would I do that
on such a warm sunny day?
Ah, the years have taught me well
in sometimes cruel, sometimes harsh ways
Be ready for weather
surprise is up nature’s sleeves
I’ve been there! Seen that!
September frost does happen….

Back in ’74
or there abouts I think
just south the house
stood a fine field of beans
chest high, record yielding, I thought
Evening on the patio
I gazed across the field
the breezes waved the field
like on some distant shore
Maybe best ever, I thought,
then turned away to suppers call
and time to play with kids

Night time brought coolness
then a cold front passed through
dawn I looked again
frost sparkled like diamonds
on the sea of emerald green
As the hours passed
the color darkened
and darkened more
until the whole field was black!
Arrested! Killed! the plants were dead!

From sixty bushels to six
in those few hours happened
Money all spent
on seed and fuel and machines
my year’s pay shrunk
my wallet very flat

We study and we plan
to maximize returns
then we gamble
trust, some say,
and plant another crop
It’s all part
of the farming adventure
not for weak of heart!

Like the Shakers
our hands we give to work
and hearts we give to God
For we are so small
and get reminders
this is earth, not heaven!
Perfection’s not for here
but there is a place
awaiting us
the choice is ours to make…

Lin 06/08

023

Summer FrostLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:14-04:00

Planting Time

The planted field
is a thing of beauty
Rich soil combed
in rows so straight
a blanket of seeds
just beneath the surface
Soon the sprout
will break the surface
drinking in the sunshine
Roots branching
winding a finding their ways deeper
drawing water and nourishment
the crop is growing

A hungry world is watching
Oh come, harvest come!
Feed the nations!
One more time!

Selah, Lin 06/08

022

Planting TimeLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:14-04:00

Dancing with the Wind

Doctors have their ways
to lead down strange paths
Where our minds work on ice
slipping and sliding on slippery slopes

Awake, but not really,
connecting dots is hard
needles come and go
tv’s show their paths
moving in very private places

Nurses pay us tention
knowing what to do
and when
and why
and where
and then
Doctors pop in and out
Stars of stage and screens
Skills hard to imagine
in their hands and brains
Tools hard to imagine
extend their reach
harm us less
and speed the way to recovery

All in all
mysteries abound
that healing can occur
in ways undreamed til now
and yet there’s more to come

But for now
we’ll say our thanks
and do our best
to do as doctors say
Life is precious
we know
even more
we know

Lin, to Andy, post op 03/08

021

Dancing with the WindLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:14-04:00

From See to Shining See

Early morning finds me
out standing in a field
What I see amazes me
amazes me

What was, just weeks ago,
winters’ spoilage covering
the browns and tans and grays
has come to be another color
speaking growth and life and promise.

As far as I can see
a blanket of greens has covered
the fields we farmers plant
The early morning dew
the bright and shining sun
make a sparkling, shining sea
of maize and soybeans growing.
Gentle breezes blowing
cause the leaves to wave

Oh, what promise is showing
of what there is to come

In a hundred days or so
this blanket will have run its course
a hidden switch will throw
and back to browns and tans we’ll go
the harvest will begin.

Where one tiny seed was planted
the tall corn plant will be
five hundred seeds will wait
to be food, fibre, fuel
For now it is for us to pleasure
to see what God has done
We tilled and planted sure
but God created life

Tiny seed, tiny egg
with amazing living potential
Will we plant them
Will we let them grow
Care for them
Love them

020

From See to Shining SeeLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:14-04:00

Days of Rain

It’s November
yet the grass
is springtime lush
fresh mowed lawns
look e’er so new
and yet I know
around the corner
a cold wind comes our way
so saw the firewood
keep it dry
for the day that’s coming

We see so dimly
take a seed
that looks so plain and lifeless
a handful, a sackful, not impressive
just lying there so lifeless
like the soil
our present eyes
see not beneath
the covers
there’s life therein, you see
waiting for us to discover
whether towering oak
or fields of corn
the seeds are tied together
deep inside
the genes have codes
that fit together neatly
bring together
circumstances
and life bursts forth

Another day
long ago
the wisest man instructed
“Be born again”
a silly thing to utter
Yet He knew
the codes yet secret
the mysteries deep inside
a seed…
…and me
waiting to be discovered

Grass and seeds and me
all bound together somehow
we’re digging deeper, higher, wider
all a seeming struggle
the picture still a window
shadowed, but growing brighter
Some day, the Good Book says
we’ll suddenly see clearly
this I understand

November 04 Lin

019

Days of RainLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:14-04:00

Early Morning Darkness

In early morning darkness
there’s soft, pattering rain
striking cold glass windows
winter, calling again

Winds whisper gently
“You need this”.
Soils will soak it in
hold it
for summer’s plants
to gain
and surge
to harvests plenty

Gray light yields
more gray and black
leafless trees
etched in ink
road lines all laid out
shining strips across the fields
light poles straight and tall
stern, it is
this gray and black
But all of us are knowing
we’re but a tiny way
from blazing white profusion

So for this morning, Saturday,
we’ll snooze a little longer
Waiting for
a quiet time
when rain has called a halt
then we’ll feed the cats
and claim the day
in luxury perusing
papers, books, and antique malls
a movie if we’re choosing

The gray today
is nature’s way
of layering a painting
Tis only priming
don’t you see
not finished landscape coming

Lin 11/04

018

Early Morning DarknessLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:14-04:00

Waiting for Rain

A summer afternoon
some weeks with little rain
the sky darkened in the west
Rows of corn and soybeans stand
wait
vulnerable
No choice have they
on weather serves
they simply, purely, wait
With me and friends
oh we talk about
chew eschew
wait also
But we watch the sky
ponder the clouds
check the radars and the net
Our churches join to pray
daily, we do too
and wait

Lin 05/05

017

Waiting for RainLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:15-04:00

Scattered Thunderstorms

The corn curls and spikes in thirst
the soybeans barely grow
cracks appear in the parched soil
We know, we sense
their mindless cry for water

The weatherfolk make their commentaries
about the lack of rain
the market masters spin their webs
and make their largest gains
but the farmer and his family
look to the skies in vain
“I need rain.”

His savings are all out there
in seed and fuel and plant food
in machines and labor out there
waiting to see what comes
For some, their lives are out there
there is no other plan
no crop, no money, no farm next year
“I need rain”, says he…

Small wonder farmers pray
they know their helpless state
no politician makes it rain
Simply God, knows what’s at stake
and moves, wonders to perform

The stars align, the oceans roar
the thunder and the lightning come
but rain, so welcome,
is what we pray for
two inches!

Selah

016

Scattered ThunderstormsLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:15-04:00

Drought

The plants and I
study the sky
hoping, thinking: Rain
Seeing naught but blue
from north to south
east to west and
high as eye can see

Not today
the message says
will rain, gentle rain
give drink to plants and me
we’ll have to wait

The timings not ours
we control it not
in any way or form
it’s but our lot
to watch
to wait
to know

His eye is on the sparrow
I know He watches me
to see what I will do
how I will act responding
to challenges built, created ‘in’
the world that does surround us

Study there
reveals a plan
created beauty and complexity
discovery unlimited in creation
limited only by my and our uncovering
We build a dam
and send the water
to flood the fields and grow
plants in deserts
food abundant
We study all the plants
and codify, modify,
bend to our current purpose
We fertilize, we chemical
we fan the genes to marvel
what we’ve ‘created’
(really discover)
only to come back

To watch the sky
my plants and I
to hoping
thinking
rain

Lin 06/05

015

DroughtLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:15-04:00

A Summer Passing

A summer passing
with scant rain coming
drizzles and dew
and those not often
the warm sun drying
soil and plants

Forecasts promising
but rain not happening
the days turn into weeks
while farm folks watch
and farm folks pray
and folks with yards and gardens
use their sprinklers often
then they watch too
for signs of rains
and note the forecasts promising

Thirty percent, forty percent
fifty and sixty too
still not much happens
and the soil dries further
the plants begin to wither

The wife in garden
I on mower
watched the skies begin to darken
we talked to God
and kept one eye
to wait and see what happened
First a sprinkle
then big splashing drops
(good omen, to be sure)
then finally heavens opened
and like a blessed shower bath
waves of rain poured down
Wet, but not caring,
I headed for shelter
as wife headed for the porch swing
The rain kept up
as did our thanksgiving
and soon the puddles formed
first time in weeks, no months
we’d seen the puddles
oh what joy we felt!

Wife sat and swung
while warm tears ran
thanks and happiness flowed
Of course we hugged
and thanked some more

Farmers, nature, and God
living close
knowing each other
happy to be alive
and see the rain
smell the rain
feel the rain
again

Lin 07/05 A half inch…

014

A Summer PassingLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:15-04:00

Thunder Rumbles

Thunder rumbles
but shies away
somehow having lost its way
to my front step
my whole farm

Its sister rain
is hiding too
as thunder teases us
raindrops fall
other places
succoring thirsty plants

How does this work?
we are led to ponder
the pathways thunder takes
the byways rain does course

I, like neighbors, listen
watch
and wait for rain

What’s in this mystery
created within
about the ways of rain
why does it fall, and not
on very certain places

Are we to think
we can direct
the great grand forces of nature?
Indeed, it brings us back
to “What is man, that Thou are mindful of him?”

Drought summer 2005

012

Thunder RumblesLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:15-04:00

The Rain Came…Late

September found us
hot and dry
thirsty people
thirst crops
thirsty lawns, flora and fauna
Drought, they called it
and there we were
United there
town and gown
and country folk
farmers and sidewalk pounders alike

And then the rains came
soft and gentle
soothing all
the crops and people
great full thank full
once again
the grass was green
the crops did what they could
their season was ending
for some was over
but on that final edge
the crops drank in
did what they could
to yield their fruits for us

Farmers have
a lot of habits
maybe in our genes
but in our culture
One habit being
in three dimensions:
remember back
bout previous years
study what’s at hand
and plan for next year
always three
Tuned in to nature
God’s creation
the picture always in motion

So, we harvest with mud
meet the challenge
happy to think ‘next year’
This rain is part
of next year’s plan
which started in past summer

The rain came late,
but early too
Now winter’s cold is coming
and we must run
to do our best
harvest what we have
Squeeze it for good prices
Soon to settle in
beside our hearth
and swap our cherished surmises!

Lin 09/08

011

The Rain Came…LateLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:15-04:00

Summer Rain*

Across the midwest prairies
the summer rains come and go
A lightning show
with rolling thunder
clouds piled higher than mountains
and winds that gust
all bow down to rain

When plants and people
begin to notice
supply is running low
they pause, look up,
are reminded
how small our efforts are
The lightning, thunder,
clouds and wind
are out of our control
So too, is rain
whether more or less
we can ask
that’s all

Interesting that,
the Good Book says,
God caused a mist to rise up
then created rain
followed by plants and…man

In the communion therein
we live today
rain, and plants, and man
to watch, and grow, and be

Oh, study, yes we do,
and often do discover
hidden layers of creation
only to find
another layer
and another

I do agree
with Preacher Nygren
wherever we focus
study deeper and deeper
it leads us back to God

Let us be tender
with plants and people
let us be tender towards rain
and let us be tender
towards the God
who sends it
again
and again

The thunder rolls
across the prairie
The sky is darkened blue and gray

Rain begins to fall
dancing on the sidewalk
playing a tune on the metal shop roof
It soaks the rich black soil
bringing to a sheen and shine
the gift of earth and life.

Water draws us all together
in many different ways
each human has to have it
indeed it’s part of our conception
and pre-birth in the womb
And we need it, use, daily all our lives.

When raindrops fall
to cover all
We need some recognition
I urge you pause
reflect
and celebrate
the gift of earth and life….

Romans: 1:20

*Lin 04/06

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Summer Rain*Lin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:16-04:00

See The Children

In the whirling world of work
it’s so easy to stop and watch
but so seldom done…

Children, around the world,
at play, no matter where
adapting to their place
some climbing trees
(to read a book, or play Tarzan/Jane)
some running, chasing
a bird, a bee, a butterfly
or a dog or cat perhaps

Sometimes serious
sometimes so happy
their laughter fills the air
Grandparents get to watch

A comfortable chair
in a spot of shade
no hurry to go or do
just watch, and savor
little ones right now
knowing, they will grow quickly

Maybe they are our gauge
of how things really are
like the butterflies
so dependent on a just so environment
they reflect the good and bad
honest to the core

Some live in hunger
some are just plain fat
some are stuck inside
glued to screens of various sorts
and some are out and playing

“Imagination. More powerful than knowledge”
Einstein said a while ago….
And that is where the small ones live.
A bedroom monster
under the bed
Harry Potter
flying in their heads
Good angels, bad angels
far away places
where it snows in summer
or planes fly so high
or ships plough the waters
and it’s okay to ask,
some hundred million times:
“Why?”

Somewhere in our world
we need that chair
that shady spot
to sit down and watch
to study and see
all the world’s children
How are they doin?
And do our best
to keep the good things
and work to fix
what could be better.

Selah, Lin 07/08

009

See The ChildrenLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:16-04:00

First Day of the Week

Let the week begin again!
The garbage man just came!
The dumpster of living refuse gone
I can begin again, dear Finnigin!
Through the week I toil and sweat
fixing this and that
making and building all sorts of things
and then there’s ‘stuff left over
Flotsum jetsum whatever you call
it things not worthy of keep
so into the dumpster they go
perhaps ‘the American Way’

In the simple ways
of long ago
or Amish living today
recycling goes on daily
with only a squeal left over
Experience is a teacher
when food fiber and fuel are scarce
things get used and used again
‘then fixed for almost forever

Not so, in America today,
we build to throw away
when the shine comes off
We enshrine in plastic
more and more
then buy strong shears
to break the box
throwing more away

The earth opens up
and swallows the trash
in gulps ever growing larger
Trash haulers love us
get bigger trucks
compactors on wheels
streaming our alleys daily
We’re tidy, though,
by eventide
the refuse is covered up
valleys full
we just move on
trains and barges rolling out
farther and farther from the towns
I love my dumpster
I don’t want to think
about the enormity of it all
the garbage heap
the garbage mountain
the earth becoming level
valleys gone
all filled up
with the refuse of us all.

Lin 07/08

007

First Day of the WeekLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:16-04:00

Bread and Soil…

Somewhere a man, woman kneads a pile of dough Ingredients measured
all created
mixed together just right Water, flour, yeast
joining chemistry together as the hands, the fingers, roll and squeeze and shape roll and squeeze and shape

Somewhere a man, a woman
kneads some special soil
Ingredients measured
all created
mixed together just right
joining chemistry together
the hands, the fingers, knead and mix
knead and mix
preparing for seeds or flower

As time goes by
secrets unfold
at first we watch
but then dig deeper
“What happens when…”?
We want to know
Tools are born to help us
Magnify, more and more
we gaze ever deeper, deeper
discovering more, seeking more
the things that are there,were there
all the time
We see patterns – created? designed?
Finer and finer we study’
each discovery a ‘wow’!

So we have some stories coming through the ages: “I am the bread of life.” and this from the beginning: “The Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life
and man became a living being.”

What is it draws mankind to the soil again?
What deep down longing’s satisfied in
kneading, shaping, soil or bread planting seed or flower?

We wonder.
Fresh baked bread aroma…
Summer rain on garden soil…
We touch the warm brown crust
We hold a fruit or flower
Enfold a tiny child to us?

Glimpses come
then whisk away
Little bits of heaven?
Is there somewhere, ‘out there’?
It all is brought together:
Instead of ‘seeing through a glass dimly’
We’ll see all, face to face…

Lin 1/3/09

006

Bread and Soil…Lin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:16-04:00

Capturing

Capturing
a thousand little pictures
of people growing up
Thoughts
Actions
Smiles and frowns
Quizzical
‘Thinking’
The pictures slip on past
some, hopefully captured
in still frames on some paper

Who knows?
Some day they might be captured on pages of the months
riding atop some 35 squares the month and year somewhere

Captured better
in a mother’s heart on pages written well
Sculpted like the little ones in mind and body, spirit too Forever in each other
precious
molding the meaning of life
Happy New Year, mom!

Grandpa W.
1/09

005

CapturingLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:16-04:00

Strange Brew

“Tis a strange brew we are we humans
We struggle to stay dry in rain and dew and humidity
Then jump into a pool or lake or gulf or ocean
We snuggle in our beds delighting in a bit more sleep then rise, stiff and sore from staying there too long
We spend a lot of time a lot of money too
for entertainment big and small that disappears like magic
A really fine dinner finished the last piece of an apple pie is certainly the best piece ever so we pause, debating, “Do I eat it now?”
Eliminating suspense, or do the logical thing
and leave it ’til I’m hungry?
A man and woman marry
and spend the years a talkin’
observing, reflecting, commenting about
a thousand million things
Then reach a time of silence
just sitting with each other
passing memories between each other
somehow without talking
their spirits having become one

Indeed we are a strange brew
body, mind, and spirit
a chip
one might say
off the old block
on a journey measured
by a little piece of time
The body made from dust will one day return to same
the mind may leave a trail in pages pictures kept
the spirit moves into another realm about which we get but glimpses
Loving long
becoming one with another may be one page, one picture of that spirit world we go to
All I know for certain is that it is good to wonder
Selah, Lin 09/08

004

Strange BrewLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:16-04:00

Riding on the Wings

Riding on the wings of prayer
can make some tough trips smoother
Somehow things go better
riding on the wings of prayer

I know it’s so, you see,
as I recently did
Drove fourteen hundred miles
smoother than you can believe

Concern, big time,
was in the seat beside me
A big thing, concern
about a daughter being challenged
‘Auto-immune disease’
the doctors call it
and indeed it is a challenge
a lot of “I don’t know’ in there

Mile after mile, I went
wide awake and alert
hour after hour, I went
moving with the traffic

Now, I’m a farmer,
so I drive a lot
most of it 5 miles per
So thruway speeds
are exhilarating
and the scenery constantly changing
not like a half mile field.

As time goes by
sleepy is normal
so my feet go up
and I quick nap
especially after lunch

Not so, riding on wings
prayer lifting me up
I’m wide awake and alert!

But wait, there’s more!
Indeed, God answers prayer!
At journey’s end
He is there and we realize
He was there, all of the time!

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow,
and thanksgiving to those who pray
lifting us up, so we can
ride on the wings of prayer.

Selah, Lin 5/10

003

Riding on the WingsLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:17-04:00

Tall, Tall Cotton

Once a year
a strange thing happens
Men wear gowns
as well as women

Cued they come to take their seats
Strange hats with tassels
gowns all pressed just so
The end of a journey, they sit

Dignitaries gather
up high on a stage
Folks with titles
Offices gained
they look upon the graduates
they look upon the families and friends

Tall, tall cotton graduation day
graduation ceremonies
Lifetime memories marking

Time was,
I wore the gowns
graduated
but I came back
to do it again, and again

Maybe 40 more or so
I’ve been there
now on the officer side
Trustee
Chairman of the Board
I shake their hands
“Congratulations!”
“Well done!” I say.
Four hundred at a clip.

Of all these times
one stands out
with very special meaning.

There is a young lady
I watched grow up
along with siblings three
Actually, I remember her parents getting married
It’s been a while ago….

Beautiful child
beautiful young lady
but that’s not half the story

Inside, she transcends
beyond the thousands I’ve seen
She is tall, tall cotton

Now I’m a farmer
to be sure
Growing crops for 50 years
I know what happens
to grow a crop
the things that come together
must
to get to that point
when the growing crop
is splendid
just before the harvest
Thinking, planning, doing,
working hard and tending
sticking with it, thick or thin
and then, sometimes,
it happens:
Tall, tall cotton

Came together
a thousand things
Blessing and my work
A joy to be noted
the special crop
the abundant harvest done

So she came, Suzanna,
across the stage that evening
Yes, beautiful young lady, outside,
but oh the measure inside
Tall, tall cotton
crossing the stage
shaking the hands proffered
Diploma signed, sealed, now delivered
“Congratulations!”
“Well done!”
Hugs to follow soon.

For just that moment
I got to share
with that field of tall, tall cotton
I’ll remember, cherish
the graduate
who moved the bar so high
so few will ever reach it

Selah, Lin 5/10

002

Tall, Tall CottonLin Warfel2022-09-03T14:54:17-04:00