As I turned the motor off and eased out of the car, I noticed a farm house with an old dilapidated barn standing near by. I had passed this place many times in the past, but had never noticed the house or barn. I had never examined the valley in this location in any detail. Since the car was parked, I could safely do so at this time. I leaned on my car and let my eyes drift around, soaking up all there was to see. After I had surveyed the panorama that lay in the distance, my eyes drifted back to the dilapidated old barn. There was a very old man standing in front of the barnyard gate. Just beyond the gate stood a bony old gray horse with its head drooping low. Then, I let my eyes travel upward until they came to rest on the large hills that sat behind the barn.
The valley drifted around to the left and passed between two great hills. The hills dropped toward the center forming a great "V" that was filled with the bright blue of the summer sky. A few small whiffs of fluffy clouds drifted lazily as a large hawk floated high in the sky, riding the thermals as it kept an eye open for a meal on the ground. Here and there on the green hill sides, a few trees spread their branches forming wide splotches of a darker green shade. I spent a few moments refreshing my soul with all this beauty, then I let my eyes drift back to the old man.
Now when I say "old man", that is a gross understatement. He was ancient - as was the old gray horse that stood in the barnyard near him. The barnyard gate was another example of the effects of the deterioration that always seems to come with age. Only one rusty hinge remained. Rusty bailing wire, wrapped around the gate post, served as a replacement for the missing hinge. Several of the graying planks that served as cross members for the gate were missing. The remaining planks were badly split and were held loosely in place by a few rusty nails. The old man and the old gate were indeed a matching pair.
The barn was also in a state of advanced deterioration. Quite a few panels of the corrugated steel roofing were missing. The panels that remained had long ago taken on the color of the rust that had been accumulating on them for so many years. Where the panels of galvanized roofing were missing, the exposed rafters looked like the sun bleached ribs from a long dead beached whale, all bleached and bare. The small doors to the hayloft had disappeared years ago. The sides of the barn were now grayed from many years of exposure to the elements. Only by looking closely could one see a few streaks of the red paint that remained from better days when the barn had been painted a bright red. A number of the boards were missing from the sides, having fallen away over the years. The gapping holes now served as side doors for the chickens which wandered aimlessly around the barnyard. The barn's big double doors were open and they hung loosely from their hinges.
The old gray mare stood quitely between the barn and the gate. The sheen from its' coat and mane had disappeared years ago. Now the mare's ribs protruded sharply from its' body and its' head drooped low, pointing toward the ground on which it was standing.
The old man faced the old horse that was standing in the barnyard. His back faced the roadside where I was leaning on my car. His balding head was crowned with a wreath of fine snowy white hair. The old man's large oversized wrinkled ears looked like someone had attached them to his head as an afterthought. What was once the strong and mighty body of a young man was now that of a frail, thin old man with shoulders stooped from age. Covering his feet was a pair of badly scuffed heavy brown work shoes. He wore a loose fitting suit of bib overalls which had most of the blue coloring washed away. One of the shoulder straps from his bib overalls had slipped down and hung loosely over his right arm. He was wearing an oversize blue chambray shirt which hung loosely on the skinny frame of his now frail body. His sleeves were rolled up to just below the elbows, revealing his forearms which were covered with a mass of hoary white hair. His left hand rested on the top board of the gate while his right arm hung loosely at his side. The old man stood there in silence peering over the gate with fondness and admiration at the remains of his once mighty steed.
However, the old man was not seeing the same scene as I. He was looking on through the eyes of his memory....
[ click on next to see what the old man saw ]
