Randy E. Richmond

YONDER HILL

I stopped a stranger in the street and asked where I could find,
A place to cool and rest my feet… “Yonder” he replied.
“It’s where I go when I am tired or when my back is sore.
It offers shelter from the storm and oftentimes much more.”

I asked him what he meant by that as he pointed out the hill.
“It will be time well spent my friend, go now and have your fill.”
He shook my hand and took his leave, I watched him walk away.
I wiped my brow off with my sleeve; it had been an awful day.

I slowly climbed up to the spot where the man had said to go.
I noticed it was no longer hot and a breeze began to blow.
I laid my head against the roots of a gnarled and grizzled tree.
I bent down to remove my boots and let my feet be free.

Though it looked quite plain and ordinary, this seemed a special place
Where one could linger long and tarry when sunlight touched his face.
I closed my eyes and soon was deep within a weary dream.
I thought I heard through my sleep a mother’s haunting scream.

I remember only waking, bathed in early morning light
To the smell of fresh bread baking and that all had been set right.
I can’t recall when I had felt more refreshed or more revived.
I got down on my knees and knelt and thanked God I was alive.

When I got back to town, the stranger told me on the road,
“It looked as you were coming down, that you walked with lighter load.”
I said, “I feel as if I’d been reborn, but that someone else had died.”
“It’s always that way, making new from worn, on Calvary,” he replied.

Author’s Note: You know Suribachi, Pork Chop, and Hamburger are all special hills to American Veterans, but I think you’ll agree that the biggest victory was won here.