On Preacher Hill Lyrics

Mark's dad is older now, but as he told Mark during a walk this summer, "I'm still faster than an earthworm." He's still faster than an earthworm Slower than a sparrow He lives on Preacher Hill On a road that is so narrow That the trees meet overhead In a canopy of green But the road is still hard gravel And your dad is in between His body does not suit him It's frail and worn from age They say there's cancer growing Well, some things you take on faith Like the time he was a boy And saw the evening moon burn bright He saw his future rising In its path of light And I hope that God's in heaven Just the way He's here in Maine The way He makes the stars sing out The way you make it plain That my two outstretched arms Can comfort and console When the dad you've loved for all your life Finally has to go Inside he's still the farm boy Ohio born and bred The man who whisked his bride away The night that they were wed They followed tracks to Boston With little but a plan And the vows of endless love they wore As rings upon their hands And as the years unfolded For this preacher and his wife Four children joined them one by one Then left them overnight With still no house to call their own They went where land was cheap On Preacher Hill in Norway, Maine He'd bless the land they'd keep Who can say what compels a man to make a mark so deep All I know is your father made a promise he could keep So where there once stood trees so high, they touched the sky Now here stands the house your father built with family by his side So he buys us hot fudge