Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
William BagleySeptember 08, 2008

The substance of God
is in the hills.

In their lines, their
color, their voices.

In the deep purple of
dusk, fiery red of
autumn, in the
black branches of
the winter
time.

In the snap of the
screen door
in the porch voices,
and the first at bat
of a reluctant spring.
In confidences.
In swung fence gates.

It is the very frame
of the hills, their
juts and crags, trails,
pools, descending
roads.

It is buried under snow, blows
with leaves in fall and spring,
sits still in summer heat.

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

July 16 marks 80 years since the first atomic bomb was detonated. The specter of nuclear annihilation has been with us ever since.
James T. KeaneJuly 15, 2025
David Corenswet in a scene from "Superman" (Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)
The first time we see the titular hero of James Gunn’s new film “Superman,” he doesn’t descend from the heavens. He plummets.
John DoughertyJuly 15, 2025
If we imagine ourselves as satisfying a God who will “give us” things only if we do the “right things,” then our relationship with God becomes less a friendship and more a chore.
James Martin, S.J.July 15, 2025
For 13 years, Josep Lluís Iriberri, S.J. has guided pilgrims along the same trail St. Ignatius walked over 500 years ago.