Ode To Sagebrush

What an amazing plant; the Sage,
so many faces has it.
                        The most versatile of our shrubs.
                        High value must be placed upon it.

So many creatures, large and small,
get winter food source from it.
                        The pungent leaves forever fresh
                        when others are dormant beside it.

Break the wind and catch the snow,
the ground is safe around it.
                        What a conservationist this plant!
                        Why don't more people know it?

Caretaker of the soil,
protecting dormant seeds beneath it.
                        So the desert can once more bloom
                        when conditions are right for it.

And summer too receives a share
of favors coming through it.
                        The shade, the cover, and the nests
                        that birds have built within it.

Insect galls on the limbs
and burrows dug below it.
                        What a vast variety of life,
                        find home and solace in it.

Paintbrush, so beautiful and fine,
could not survive without it.
                        Pushing down roots to attach below,
                        nourishment coming of it.

In fall it blooms and beauty gives
to all the land about it.
                        The autumn days delight the air.
                        Smell the aromas that cause it!

How often I have heard the phrase:
"It's just sagebrush, let's remove it."
                        So naive these people are
                        to fasten that opinion to it.

I once thought of Sage as drab
before I really knew it.
                        Now I view it in another light
                        and attach much beauty to it.