A Family Poem by Sarah Elizabeth Lannigan

Kansas
By Sarah Elizabeth Lannigan

You may ask why I came to Idaho;
You will find my answer below;
We have a grave on the hilltop
Overlooking the valley below.

God has painted a picture
No artist could ever describe,
Of the river and rich fertile valley
That runs close by its side.

I can see the snowcapped mountains
That seem not so far away,
And I think of the wind-swept desert
In the land where I used to stay.

They say the wind is blowing
Clouds of dust that you can see –
You’d better come to the hills, Maggie,
And tarry awhile with me.

We do not have the “twisters”;
Don’t run from lightning and wind;
We are not like you, dear sister,
When the cyclones begin.

Oh, come to the Inland Empire
Where the tall pines grow –
We have deer and bear on the hilltop,
Chipmonks and gophers below.

Well, this is the end of my story
(I hope you won't find it too long);
Come to the Inland Empire
And we’ll sing a merry song.

(This poem was found at the Bonners Ferry Museum. Sally was the mother of our grandfather, Ralph Lannigan - another baseball player in the line. The grave she refers to was her son's; Ebon, who died at age 32.)