Did you ever watch a Harvest Moon
As it rose above the prairie?
Did you sit and listen to the evening sounds
And the song of the wide open country?
Did you ever drive through a little prairie town
And grab a bite at their little cafe?
Did you shake hands with the farmers there
Visiting bout life or’ a cup of black coffee?
Did you ever go fishing when it started to rain
In an old stock dam where the cows come to water?
Or hunted that big ol’ whitetail buck
In a corn field where you watch him grow big through the summer?
Have you ever been to the ranchers table
Where all they were eating there they grew?
Did you hold hands with them there for dinner at noon
As the prayed and thanked God for the food?
Did you ever watch as neighbors and strangers
Came together for a common cause?
Be it a flood or a fire or other natural disaster
Or the friend who’s dying of cancer.
Did you ever go to a football game
Where the school’s so small they play 6 man
Did you watch as the water boy ran to the Center.
His brother, his hero, his best friend.
Have you ever witnessed that Grandpa
As he held his newborn grand baby?
Did you watch as your dad cried
When his old horse had died and he buried him out South of the barn
Did your mom ever help you build a fort
In the trees back behind the house
And give you an old pan or blanket
Then called Grandma to come see your new haunt?
Where you there in that town for the Centennial Celebration Parade?
Where they still throw candy and we wave our flags.
Because this is America, and we’re still proud to say, "God Bless the USA”.
Did you ever show up for branding day in May?
Where the sound of bawling calves and the smell of burning hair is something you’ve been dreaming of all winter?
Have you ever been there for harvest?
Where the meals are eaten in the field.
Where Faith is lived out in everyday life
When it’s a drought or a flood that defines it?
Have you ever been to South Dakota
Where neighbors might be 100 miles away
Where if you don’t know them, you know their cousin and you might be related anyway!
Did you listen to the coyotes call to each other?
Or chase that skunk you’ve been waiting for through the dark?
Are your best friends your brothers and sisters?
And you teased and you loved all the same?
Have you ever seen a Harvest Moon,
On a beautiful September night?
Did you ever question if there is a God?
Well I'm hoping by now that you don’t.
Have you ever seen the Harvest Moon...
As it rose above the Prairie?
-Rachel Reinhold
September 15, 2019