DESCRIPTION:
The Will
Burrowed deep in yellowed heirlooms
This retreat the contagion of our times
Comfort drawn from the familiar
Remains of our pioneers’ lives

Rocky set the cup down softly
Spoke to the window then the wall
I’ll have a wife before the winter
I’ll finish up this cabin by the fall

And so it was by the first snowfall
A fire in the stove and in his heart
Proved his vision sound and honest
Born of grace and work in equal parts

While I’ll blanket you in goodness daughter
I’ll pray your soul will find
Iron in these hills to fashion
A will tempered over time

What of this child who lies beside me
She’ll be a woman 18 years from now
And as she leaves this valley one day
She’ll carry what I’ve given to the ground

That is if what I’ve given she finds useful
When the weather turns and if her spirit wanes
She’ll reach into the folds of memory's quiver
For a weapon the wildness to tame

Aside the remote control on my own mantel
A tintype of Rocky and his wife
And slung there above though long gone idle
The adze that brought that cabin once to life