Lemmon

In counties Stark, Adams, and Perkins, this fruit grows bitter sweet;

It’s a place juicy in memory and ripened with the heritage of family; 

and it calls it’s loved ones home.

Heavenly skies of azure blue, with zested clouds of white, dance on an endless horizon; 

Roads pitted with dust and rose colored gravel, chase fields of corn and happy golden flowers; 

as it calls it’s loved ones home.

Lands, North and South, split by rail are enriched with metals of gold and bones of beasts are infused into the Native soils;

A homestead with a once mighty river is deep with childhood fun, now flows constricted as a creek until winter’s frozen pour; 

Fields of grazing Angus and Herefords bred, provided commerce and recorded legacy;

A marketplace of agricultural retail that once celebrated a hometown world champion;

calls it’s loved ones home.

Old growth wood has become ancient stone, providing a point of entry and curiosity; 

A former tavern is given new life and is resurrected into a gallery for artistic creativity; 

In Lemmon, South Dakota. 

This is a place of unknown history, harmony, and hardship. 

A place built of labor and tradition; and a place that calls it’s loved ones home.

This piece was written by Judge Kemp in honor of Robert Daniel Schnell for the Schnell Family.