by Patricia Parker

Created on: November 17, 2010

The church in the graveyard stood empty and bare

Its tombstones and silence had drawn me there

I felt ghosts of the faithful who once filled each pew

On each Sunday morning in worship of you

The preacher would tell them to live a good life

Honor thy parents, thy children and wife

Don't steal from another, don't gamble or lie

If salvation be yours on the day that you die

I thought I heard singing so mellow and soft

I pictured the choir overhead in the loft

This was the vision I had on that day

I shook my head sadly and walked away

Later that evening, I returned to the dale

I wanted a Jonah, a sea and a whale

I found God again in the quiet of a prayer

I felt all along that I'd sure find Him there

In an old country church by a graveyard of old

I found my religion and re-entered God's fold

The congregants smiled, I could see in each face

The warmth and the welcome to this long ago place

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