Photos: Nevada in Spring

by Waddie Mitchell

The cows are turned out and the meadows been dragged

Ya picked up some eight-way in town

The cheat grass is now giving way to the blue bunch

The sun slowed its rush to go down

The range has changed into her Easter attire

Pup cyots are venturing out

Fawns buck and hover ‘round mothers recov’ring

From winter and extended drought

From winter and extended drought

The new and its colors birth mem’ries and longings

Earth wreaks of renewal and light

Buds and bugs surface from sagebrush and dry turd

Cranes rest from their northerly flight

Nevada in spring puts a spring in the soul

Resurgence has scented the air

Winter and darkness have ceased taking toll

And promise and hopes everywhere

And you recon by luck you live there

The neighbors are on plus our friends too, from town

Wife’s cooked up a branding day feast

You’re to meet before dawn at the dipping corrals

So you’ll gather the field from the East

The pickups been serviced, the horses are shod

You filled the ice chest and propane

The trailers hooked up and the irons are in

For tradition both grand and profane

Tradition both grand and profane

Two weeks of preparing for each branding day

Every year it’s become more a pain

Then you turn on the news when you get into bed

And the weatherman’s calling for rain

Nevada in spring puts a spring in the soul

Renewal has scented the air

Winter and darkness have ceased taking toll

And promise and hopes everywhere

And you recon by luck you live there