Earth Day is April 22 and I wanted to celebrate by sharing this poem because April is also Poetry Month.

I've been working on this manuscript for a few years, since saving prairie dogs and their ecosystem is my passion. I have personally helped relocate prairie dogs in Colorado and continue to be an advocate for them.

I wanted kids to learn about this precious ecosystem through a familiar song, Home on the Range. Here I have changed the words to reflect the plains's plants and wildlife and to leave the reader with a message of how important it is to protect open space and to leave it alone so that life can thrive on it. 

Photo by Amanda Wight

Home on the Plains

copyrighted 2019 by Natasha Wing

 

 

Oh give them a home

Where the big bison roam

And the deer and the pronghorn bands stray.

Where seldom is heard

A single human word

And the sky is sunny all day.

 

Oh, give them the gleam

Of the swift mountain stream

And a place where the coneflower grows.

The song of the lark and the prairie dog’s bark

Gets carried in the wind when it blows.

 

Home, home on the plains

Where the pups of the prairie dogs play.

Where seldom is heard

A single human word

And the stream is burbling all day.

 

Oh, give them the grass

Where the cottontail pass

And sage-grouse tend to their nest.

You’ll find mountain plovers among sweet clovers

And migrators stopping to rest.

 

Home, home on the plains

Where the grouse and the brown plovers lay

Where seldom is heard

A single human word

And the grass is nibbled all day.

 

Oh, give them the sky

Where the bald eagles fly

And the kestrels can spread out their wings.

Where the lark bunting and owls go hunting

And the songbird rejoices and sings.

 

Home, home on the plains

Where the owls and the bald eagles splay

Where seldom is heard

A spoken human word

And the wind is breezy all day.

 

Oh, give them a land

Where the coyotes band

And rattlesnakes slither unseen.

Where the sparrows sing songs as a hawk glides along 

Like a ghost in a heavenly dream.

 

Home, home on the plains

Where the snakes and the tall grasses sway

Where seldom is heard

A single human word

And the pup is howling away.

 

Oh give them the nights

With no bright city lights

So the nocturnal animals can feed.

Where the stealthy wild cats and big brown bats

And badgers can hunt what they need.

 

Home, home on the plains

Where the fox and the masked ferrets prey

Where seldom is heard

A single human word…

 

And let’s try to leave it that way.

 

A note to editors: This manuscript is available to acquire. Please contact me at natashawing@gmail.com.