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"One Home" by William Stafford?
What does the line, "plain black hats rode the thoughts that made our code" (line 2) mean?
Mine was a Midwest home-you can keep your world.
Plain black hats rode the thoughts that made our code.
We sang hymns in the house; the roof was near God.
The light bulb that hung in the pantry made a wan light,
but we could read by it the names of preserves
outside, the buffalo grass, and the wind in the night.
A wildcat sprang at Grandpa on the Fourth of July
when he was cutting plum bushes for fuel,
before Indians pulled the West over the edge of the sky.
To anyone who looked at us we said, "My friend";
liking the cut of a thought, we could say, "Hello."
(But plain black hats rode the thoughts that made our code.)
The sun was over our town; it was like a blade.
Kicking cottonwood leaves we ran toward storms.
Wherever we looked the land would hold us up.
if anyone could help it would be much appreciated! thanks!
Well, obviously the poem isn't describing an Amish home, if there's a light bulb.
Stafford grew up in Kansas in the early 20th century (he was born in 1914). He married a woman from the pacifist Church of the Brethren and did alternative service as a conscientious objector during World War II, but he did not grow up in a Brethren family. It's not clear that the "plain black hats" in the poem are specifically religious garb, although the mention of "hymns" and "God" in line 3 suggests that the "code" mentioned in line 2 had a strong religious component. Most likely, "the thoughts that made our code" is a reference to all of the family's beliefs and values, including but not limited to religious beliefs. By saying that "Plain black hats rode" those thoughts, the poet is saying that the family had those thoughts inside their hears, and wore plain black hats on top of their heads. In other words, they were plain, simple, unpretentious people with moral values to match.
Gary's Blade at Wildcat 2007