Grandpa drove his 1968 blue Chevrolet...

Eriogonum niveum

Grandpa drove his 1968 blue Chevrolet
to an orchard where they set out bins of apples 
every harvest southwest of Soap Lake.

The wind whipped past rolled-down windows.
Rabbitbrush bloomed golden yellow in the sun.
And grandpa said,

“The golden-rod is blooming;
The corn is turning brown;
The trees in apple orchards
With fruit are bending down....”

The poem first appeared in 1892,
Maybe 40 years before a teacher gave it to Grandpa 
to memorize before he went to work after eighth grade.

The poet, Helen Hunt Jackson, 
wrote a protest of the Sand Creek Massacre
and other evils done to native peoples.

Now my daughters, 3 and 5, join me,
on a hike and notice rabbitbrush
and buckwheat turning amber by the trail.

And I hear Grandpa in my mind,
and wonder what these two kids will think in 40 years 
when they see rabbitbrush in bloom.