Upon a hill

Upon a hill there stands a house,

Windows gaze out softly on the farm,

Dawn wakes quiet as a mouse.

Furrows stitch fields like hems on a blouse

Each row a hymn, each row a psalm,

Upon a hill there stands a house.

Winds over hay, a gentle spouse,

Lingers warm, protective and calm,

Dawn wakes quiet as a mouse.

Barn doors creak; cattle shift and browse,

Chickens stir, rooster lifts alarm

Upon a hill there stands a house.

Soil remembers labor, hand, and ploughs,

Earth gives bread, hearth returns it warm,

Dawn wakes quiet as a mouse.

Generations live beneath these boughs,

Roots of time enshrined in steadfast charm,

Upon a hill there stands a house,

Dawn wakes quiet as a mouse.

9-16-25

Villanelle: Fixed verse form; nineteen-line poetic form consisting of five tercets followed by a quatrain; genre of ballad-like song