K entucky River
In t hi s I s s u e The C h r i s t i a n j e c t , A Br i ef
Appalachian History
‘A MAN, A MULE, AND A BULL-TONGUE PLOW”
I watched a man working as close to God As the blue Spring sky and the fresh-turned sod, With the sweat forming beads on his face and brow, A man and a mule and a bull-tongue plow. He had made that plow with his own two hands From a young oak sapling that no longer stands. And the mule he steered with a couple o f ropes As he plowed the land where he built his hopes. As I watched him work in the April sun, A nd saw there what he and that mule had done On a slope in the eastern Kentucky hills, Devoid o f the richer m an’s gains and frills, I saw a patience and a faith in the Lord That left me both humble and y e t restored. A nd I see him y e t as I sit here now, A man, a mule, and a bull-tongue plow. By Norma Luce June Kentucky 1977
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