Three Forks of the Kentucky River Historical Association

Poems & Stories

The South Fork Country

by Taylor Price Gabbard

I would go back to the Owsley Hills,
To the place where I used to be;
Where fragrant forest and upland fills,
And the South Fork is flowing free.

I would go back to Indian Creek,
Where the pioneer settlers came,
And found what the homeless migrants seek,
And stalked out a boundry claim.

I would go back to the Grassy Branch,
Where the district log schoolhouse stood,
And visit scenes of the old home ranch,
And the folks of the neighborhood.

I would recall my school teaching days,
And the children who came to me.
And went forth on their various ways,
With happy hearts, friendly and free.

I would go up to the Buzzard Rocks,
On the tall timbered mountain side,
To distant haunts of squirrel and fox,
Where the gray hawk and crow abide.

I would sit down in a solemn mood,
At the root of a giant tree
And ponder and pray in solitude,
In the visions that come to me.

I would go out to the lone graveyard,
To the headstone beside each mound,
And see the end of the human discard,
All entombed in the silent ground.

Tee Pee Gabbard

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