On Clyburn Hill a Lectern Is
On Clyburn Hill
The stars come down
As bright as on some holy town.
On Ctyburn Hill a lectern is.
My father knew the very place
Where he could stand
To find the mark of God's right hand;
And hear the hymn tunes
In the trees,
And in the gentle humming of the bees.
On Clyburn Hill a lectern is.
A man of simple faith,
His neighbors said,
Who took his yoke and bowed his head.
But often when
His weary feet
Came faltering from the Mercy Seat,
I'd hear him say:
"T'll take me to a mount, a wood,
A wilderness I'll find,
And seek me out an humbleness of mind."
We used to smile
And say that he
Had gone to sit on Abraham's knee.
And oft repeat
That line of his
"On Clyburn Hill a lectern is."
A man of simple faith,
His neighbors said;
But now that they are gone
And he is dead,
I sometimes think
I'd like to find
Where he could stand
And watch the mark of God's right hand.
Here is the simple chart
He left: "John Tumley's cabin-
Lift the latch
And pass on through to the blueberry patch.
"Follow up
To where scrub-pine
Thickens in to mark the line.
"A hundred yards-and the goose-necked spruce.
There's a pointed stick
In the hemlock cleft."
These are the simple lines he left.
A message plain as it can be-
And yet,
Nobody that I know
Can find the place
He marked, just so.
Here is the road,
And there the latch,
And this is the trail
To the blueberry patch.
But where is the place
That he could stand
To find the mark
Of God's right hand?
On Clyburn Hill a lectern is.
Structure
60 lines · 14 stanzas