Find Your Shepherd in These Hills

Delete from your mind’s eye the traffic and the tackiness,
 

The elderly with their walkers, pulling their oxygen tanks,
 

Honky tonk music and patriotism hoisted on the stage,
 

Like so much set decoration and confetti.  It’s part of the show
 

An occasional performer checks his watch.
 

You can find your own Shepherd of the Hills here. Just look.
 

Gaze across the vistas throughout the calendar year.  Take in the colors of fall,
 

The ice of winter, all abloom each spring,

Roars of boats and cheers of children in the dense humidity of summer.
 

Your Shepherd might be the trio of deer.  They hush the evening with their careful steps.
 

They cross the drive way, grazing from woods to woods,
 

Sometimes they venture to the door step, peeking into the humans’ house
 

Eyes large and soft and trusting.  Innocents a-hoof.
 

Maybe it’s the turkey vulture as he glides above the lake,
 

Swooping for carrion, armadillo, squirrel, an unfortunate raccoon,
 

His shadow creates a phantasmagoric bird as the sun catches his profile
 

Through the windows facing west.  He skims the currents, seeking his nightly roost.
 

There is peace outside the city. There is food for thought and soul.
 

In the country lanes, on the water's edge,  you can feed your selfhood. 
 

The Shepherd waits for you to find him in the hills,

The rolling, bountiful hills.

The link below is to hear one of Dolly Parton's songs about the hills of Tennessee.