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SLEEPY HOLLOW
by William Ellery Channing
No abbey's gloom, nor dark cathedral stoops,
No winding torches paint the midnight air;
Here the green pines delight, the aspen droops
Along the modest pathways, and those fair
Pale asters of the season spread their plumes
Around this field, fit garden for our tombs.
And shalt thou pause to hear some funeral bell
Slow stealing o'er thy heart in this calm place,
Not with a throb of pain, a feverish knell,
But in its kind and supplicating grace,
It says, Go, pilgrim, on thy march, be more
Friend to the friendless than thou wast before;
Learn from the loved one's rest serenity;
To-morrow that soft bell for thee shall sound,
And thou repose beneath the whispering tree,
One tribute more to this submissive ground;—
Prison thy soul from malice, bar out pride,
Nor these pale flowers nor this still field deride:
Rather to those ascents of being turn,
Where a ne'er-setting sun illumes the year
Eternal, and the incessant watchfires burn
Of unspent holiness and goodness clear,—
Forget man's littleness, deserve the best,
God's mercy in thy thought and life confest.
Me on the steps of the Emily Dickinson Museum, Amherst, Massachusetts, 2007
August, 2007, brought us the distinct pleasure of a visit to Concord and Amherst, Massachusettes, site of Sleepy Hollow Cemetery and the famous "Authors' Ridge", as well as the homestead of immortal poet Emily Dickinson.
Here find a few photos and related thoughts from that journey.
From the foreword:
Maggie’s beautiful and poignant I Run to the Hills captures the essence of a fellow traveler’s journey. As you read and follow this chronicle, you will be blessed by the encouragement and gentle prodding to keep placing one foot in front of the other.
(Kimberley Woodhouse, Author of "Welcome Home: Our Family’s Journey to Extreme Joy", from Focus on the Family and Tyndale House Publishers)
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I Run to the Hills: Reflections on the Christian Journey (Port Yonder Press) consists of thirty-nine rich reflections to savor during quiet times. Through essay, poem, and allegory, C. Maggie Woychik leads the reader one ridge higher, closer home, where mountain climbers shall meet the Mountain Maker face to face, in rest and goodness This book is both a journey and a resting place – a collection of faith-musings loosely draped in traveling garb. (from the press release)
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Available for order below, at your local bookseller, or visit Amazon.com.
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I Run to the Hills: Reflections on the Christian Journey
Book trailer is here.
