The old fields lie quiet,
and the crows circle like shadows
over the rusted fence posts.
But I will not fear.
For He has said,
“Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20).

The storms come sudden in this land,
the thunder cracking across the ridges,
the hollers filling with dark water.
Still I lift my voice,
for “He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still” (Psalm 107:29).

My heart has been heavy with sorrow,
and the nights are long and lonesome.
I’ve walked through the graveyard trails,
where the cedars whisper like mourners.
Yet I remember the promise:
“The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God,
and there shall no torment touch them” (Wisdom of Solomon 3:1).

The ground beneath me is clay and stone,
but the Rock I stand upon is greater.
I lean upon Him as the prophet said:
“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee” (Isaiah 26:3).

I do not ask for riches,
I do not ask for the barns to be full,
or the fields to yield without sweat.
I ask only for His nearness,
for His hand to guide me in the dark valley,
for the sound of His voice when my breath grows thin.

And I will say with the old saints before me,
“Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job 13:15).
For He is the keeper of my soul,
the light that does not fail,
the Lord who walks the dusty roads beside me,
and will not let me go.