When I was a child I ne’er knew it was there
Too busy with play and too little to care
But as I grew older became part of learning
The facts and the rumors, the fears and the yearnings
Around me the young and around me the old
All thought it was haunted, it ought to be sold
Its owner a monster, a creature unclean
Would come out at night and would wander unseen
Still everyone gawked at it one time or other
Young girls and old women and somebody’s mother
The children made stories, old ladies dreamed dreams
Men mostly ignored it, going on with their schemes
’Twas always just there, was the house on the hill
Some said it was charming, kept up with such care
It added such grandeur, it added some flair
But others more practical would take their stand
And question what else could be done with that land
Some said that the style was well done, but of late
Opinion swings both ways, some love and some hate
What had it imbued on the neighborhood ’round it
It sits there an eyesore, its beauty unfounded
The entry walk was just a path, such a pity
But others said that part belonged to the city
I’d never seen anyone go up that way
Unless it was well before I had my day
’Twas always just there, was the house on the hill
Some say they’d heard music or seen lights at night
I must admit I would have taken a fright
Yet there was a time on late walks of my own
I’d swear a strange glow through the forest had shown
When on a night weary while trudging towards home
I thought I heard faintly a strange heav’nly tone
and wondered from whence the sound came and what for
But quickly I passed and recalled it no more
And life went on ’round it, cars, buses flow by
It lay mostly hidden and trees block the eye
Most said to ignore it, they wished it torn down
An oddity sure yet a fixture in town
’Twas always just there, was the house on the hill
They thought that a rich man must live there alone
He’d been there forever aloof and unknown
He could do some good for those ’round him residing
Instead of just sitting estranged and in hiding
How queer that a house can cause such consternation
and spin round the thoughts in such public fixation
But be such a comfort to some who look up there
Dependable always as if in answer to prayer
Perhaps one day I will step through that feared gateway
Through mysteries great and walk up that long pathway
And see just what lies beyond leaves and thick arbors
In hopes to find solace and longed-for safe harbor
And always just there is my house on the hill
