Dad's Poetic Essay on Sprinklers

I wanted to share an email that my dad sent out about sprinklers. I thought it was very poetic. Here it is....

I like sprinklers.

They intrigue me: The little springs and the weird shaped parts that hop and bounce and twirl as the water comes out in a stream arcing across the sky. I do not know exactly how they all work, or even the names of the parts that make them work, but I like sprinklers in all of their shapes, sizes, and designs.

They come in all sizes, from the little one that pops up at the edge of the sidewalk at 2:00 in the morning to spray your ankle, to the guns on the pivot that the farmers use to get just a few more acres irrigated. They whir and chirp and chitter in a language all their own though some are silent as they work to soak down a corner of the yard. Some send out steady streams that vary only as the breeze pushes the water around, but most whirl and bat and rock as they spread the water across the land.

I like the ones that go back and forth, and those that go around in a circle. I like the ones that look like a tractor and as the top spins, the tractor so slowly follows the hose across the yard. I like the ones under the pivots that slowly rotate like a splashy wet carousel. I like the large indolent pivots that you can never see move, but by the end of the day have swung across the field. I like the ones hidden in the ground that give just a little hiss of warning before they pop up and rain on your parade.

I enjoy them in the morning as they add to the dew on the grass. I enjoy them under the noon day sun as they moisten the ground. I enjoy them in the still of the evening as their fine mist shines in the golden light of the setting sun.

But I do not enjoy the splat, splat, splat on my windshield as I drive down the road past the pivot's end gun. I enjoy walking down a suburban street in the evening and listening to the sounds of the sprinklers in the yards chattering like neighbors across the backyard fence. I enjoy the drive to work in the morning and seeing pivot and wheel line mounted sprinklers working diligently in field after field.

But what I like most about sprinklers is what they do. Sprinklers keep the grass green in the parks and yards. They help the flowers to bloom and enable you to raise vegetables in your garden. Because of sprinklers, the farmers can grow corn, wheat, alfalfa, and sugar beets to put food on your table. They provide beauty for the soul and food for the body.

So out here in the deserts of southern Idaho where ever sprinklers are at work I know that they are helping something to grow. That is why I like sprinklers.

S.H. Bishop of Bliss