Author Archives: kathrynhayeslangley

Like a thin veil The gray white harbingers of A coming storm Sweep across the face of A full moon Set like a glittering diamond In the cold blue of A winter night The landscape itself In the ethereal light of The winter moon Already gives the appearance Of A snow covered scene The cloudsContinue reading “Snow Storm”

What makes me happy Many things The winter snows A mountain spring The summer sunshine Birds that sing A white cloud In a blue sky A place called heaven Where we never die A puppy begging for a pat A pretty lady holding her skirt and hat Being free Being me Not worrying about Society’sContinue reading “What Makes Me Happy”

The mud sucks at your feet With every step You slide and stagger like One soaked in ‘shine The soil is gooey for a foot or so down And if the weather doesn’t Turn cold and freeze the Mud We’ll be up to our knees in this sloppy mud This is country in the winterContinue reading “MUD”

This is a letter Dad wrote to me when I was in first grade. I just found it among his papers. It appears to be unfinished, the final sentence doesn’t have an end mark, but I expect he had said what he wanted to. Dear Kathryn, I just want to take this chance to tellContinue reading “Letter to Kathryn”

The Soul carries the imprint and dynamics of mind, body, and heart with all their knowledge, genius, and potential into the promise and challenge of eternity. The Soul is furnished with the ideas we create.  The richer the furnishings the greater our role and service to God throughout eternity.  In this life we create furnishingsContinue reading “Soul”

The Birchfield Cottage stood across the tumbling mountain branch a safe haven. At the end of the trail Reached by crossing the branch On the rough and narrow footbridge. Grandfather Jay crossed the bridge On an icy winter day Sat the steaming pot of stew At the little cabin door For the weak and hungryContinue reading “The Birchfield Cottage”

Fall of hope and optimism Filled with a vision of a bright future The poor mountain boy Dressed in the best he had He had worked hard all year Bought a ticket to Philadelphia Make big money in that Northern town More than he ever had . Drinking with some local thugs They robbed andContinue reading “The Saddest Funeral”

John Miller walked alone Through the winter cold The blizzard came down hard and fast Threatened to make this walk John’s last . Lantern light flickered In a cottage window by the mountain road John pounded in fright upon the little door Old Major Lunceford harkened in fright or anger Behind the rickety door PulledContinue reading “Major Lunceford”

Foxfire Eyes Dad was walking through the woods one night and saw two big eyes staring at him.  He took his pistol and shot six times into the eyes, but they continued to stare at him without even blinking. This buffaloed him and he high-tailed it away from there, but the next day he wentContinue reading “Dad’s Ghost Stories”

The Trail to Magic Land Times were good in the mountains of home.  But part of being good was having nothing to compare it to. Twenty-five cents an hour was good when it bought two hotdogs, fully-loaded, and a drink to boot.  And all the guys I worked with made the same twenty-five cents anContinue reading “Highway 23”