The Vale Below

We’re off on a hike to the vale below As happy as can be The trees are lovely shades of brown As far as the eye can see Can see As far as the eye can see The air is brisk; the sky is clear And we have far to go The temperature is falling fast And there’s a hint of snow Of snow And there’s a hint of snow It’s cold enough to see your breath We’d best keep moving fast The sun is now below the hills And daylight will not last Not last And daylight will not last The trail is fraught with rocks and roots They like to grab your feet If I don’t keep a sharp watch out The ground and I will meet We’ll meet The ground and I will meet The trail has gotten overgrown It’s hard to read the lines My eyes are always looking down We tangle in the vines The vines We tangle in the vines But Missy doesn’t care a bit She’s caught the scent of deer. With all the racket that we make, They’re clearly nowhere near. Not near They’re clearly nowhere near And then ahead, quite close to us Just right up on the trail, I see a bobbing up and down Of lifted, bouncing tails Of tails Of lifted, bouncing tails It’s such a blessed place to be Just me and Missy Girl I wouldn’t have it otherwise Be elsewhere in the world The world Be elsewhere in the world The carcasses of forests past lie strewn upon the floor, And with the wind that’s blowing in, There’ll soon be several more Be more There’ll soon be several more A homestead thrived here long ago Scant few stacked stones remain Did they find peace and solitude? Or mostly toil and pain? And pain Or mostly toil and pain? I often think about those folks: With all the struggles that they faced, If they too knew, just as I do, The Lord is in this place This place The Lord is in this place It’s time to turn and head back home Scale up the wooded hill I’m eager to return again Anticipate the thrill The thrill Anticipate the thrill Each time I journey to my vale, I get a hint of grand designs As though I drew the curtain back Saw glimpses of divine Divine Saw glimpses of divine