"Hills That Know Me"

This painting is in honor of my friends, Faye and Harold Bowman. They love East TN and my Poga home place and "Howie" loves the snow...living in Texas now... the land misses them! I took this photo when Mike and I went to visit my Mom on a recent Sunday afternoon, the first snowfall of the year. It was beautiful. 
Faye shared with me her love of art and I learned a lot from her. Her work is precise and wonderfully done. She also shared a lot of wisdom, some quotes, books and poetry. The painting reminded me of a poem that she wrote down for me...My Hills of Dreams by Arthur Guiterman. He wrote many humorous poems but this one just feels like me. I guess that's why she gave it to me.

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I never loved your plains!-- 
Your gentle valleys, 
Your drowsy country lanes 
And pleachéd alleys. 

I want my hills! -- the trail 
That scorns the hollow.-- 
Up, up the ragged shale 
Where few will follow, 

Up, over wooded crest 
And mossy bowlder 
With strong thigh, heaving chest, 
And swinging shoulder, 

So let me hold my way, 
By nothing halted, 
Until, at close of day, 
I stand, exalted, 

High on my hills of dream-- 
Dear hills that know me! 
And then, how fair will seem 
The lands below me, 

How pure, at vesper-time, 
The far bells chiming! 
God, give me hills to climb, 
And strength for climbing! 

Arthur Guiterman