Sun Flowers and Son Followers

The black edge of night gave way to dark blue as I drove south on a rural road in Nebraska. Having driven through the night, I welcomed the faintest glimmer of sunshine that soon would spread across my path and force night’s retreat.

A rightward glance revealed the uniformity of a row crop standing perpendicular to the narrow blacktop. Mile after mile, hundreds, no, surely thousands of these figures loomed as shadowy silhouettes against the darkness that skulked westward. They looked like beleaguered soldiers mustered for morning inspection by the glowing general advancing from the East.

Momen...