Buffalo Bygones

Don't it always seem to go That you don't know what you've got Till it's gone They paved paradise And put up a parking lot

Joni Mitchell / Big Yellow Taxi

Yeah, that's a beautiful buffalo all wrought in metal, bristling with power and force. But it's a monument, a remembrance, a shadow of things that were.

While I delight in the art of such a thing, I can't help but shake at the ignorance that wiped out these magnificent animals. The great explorers, the strong pioneers, the enterprising builders of a nation -- there are so many worthy notations on their list of accomplishments. But wiping out the Indians, killing the buffalos, well, that too is on the list.

There's still much to admire in this land -- not everything has been spoiled yet. Although Joni Mitchell’s poignant refrain about paving over Paradise comes to mind far too often.

P.S. Came across the Buffalo sculpture near Wichita, Kansas. Lifted the copy below off the artist's website at www.sculpturehill.com

Frank Jensen's unique metal sculptures are created and displayed on Henry's Sculpture Hill east of Augusta, Kansas on Highway 400. "The Hill" is Frank Jensen's private sculpture park of more than fifty steel and metal sculptures, many based on classic literature and and his childhood experiences in the Flint Hills.