Mornin' On The Desert
Mornin' on the desert, and the wind is blowin' free.
And its ours, first for the breathin', so let's go, you and me.
No more stuffy cities, where you have to pay to breath.
Where the helpless human creature move and throng and strive.
Mornin' on the desert, and the air is like a wine.
And it seems like all creation has been made for me and mine.
No house to stop our vision, save a neighbor's miles away
And the little adobe shanty that could be yours and mine.
Lonesome? Not for a minute! Why, I've got the mountains here,
That were put here just to please me with their blush and frown and
cheer.
They're waitin' when the summer sun gets too sizzling hot,
And we just go campin' in 'em with a pan an' coffee pot.
Mornin' on the desert — I can smell the sagebrush smoke.
I hate to see it burnin', but the land must be broke.
Ain't it just a pity that wherever man may live,
He tears up much that's beautiful that God has to give?
Sagebrush ain't so pretty? Well, all eyes don't see the same.
Have you ever seen the moonlight turn it into a silvery flame?
An' that greasewood thicket yonder — it smells just awful sweet.
When the night wind has been shakin' it, its smell is hard to beat.
Lonesome? I guess not! I've been lonesome in a town.
But I sure do love the desert with its stretches wide and brown.
All day through the sagebrush here the wind is blowin' free,
And it's ours just for the breathin', so lets go, you and me.
-often listed
as written on the door of a shack/cabin/shanty on the desert of
Southern Nevada
(if you have any information on/about this poem or its author, please
contact me. I
have traced this poem as early as 1910. I expect the poem was written
about 1905-1908)
I am looking for the episode of a radio program of Death Valley Days called
"Mornin On The Desert" which aired Saturday November 4, 1939 at
9:30-10:00pm. It was episode #468.
Anyone who can supply this as a radio script(printed), as a cd or other
electronic recording, please contact
me.
Sam Nielson
nielsons@byui.edu