Description:

This is a brief verse drama that celebrates the life of Harlan and Anna Hubbard.

From the work:

Their names were Harlan and Anna.
A long time ago they came here,
past the middle of their lives, to live
until they were old. They were refugees
from that violent world of our ancestors
that nearly destroyed itself. They wanted
a quiet place that was dark at night, unwanted
by other people, where they could grow their food
or catch or find it, and be warmed by firewood
burning on a hearth they made of rocks
carried up from the river or the creek.

from Sonata at Payne Hollow by Wendell Berry

18 pages.

First Sentences:

The Kentucky shore of the Ohio at evening. Some time in the future, perhaps a saner time than now.

Comments:

See also Harlan Hubbard: Life and Work.