Batanes : Mount Carmel Chapel

The Chapel Upon the Hill

A simple thing of knotted pine
 And corrugated tin;
But still, to those who read, a sign,
A fortress on the farthest line
 Against the march of sin.

Though rich man's gold was lacking quite,

 We built it strong and sure,

With willing hands and (Faith's delight)

The savings spared, the widow's mite,

 The shillings of the poor.

Nor could it fail to meet the eye

 And reverent thoughts instil,

As there above the township high,

And pointing always to the sky,

 It stood upon the hill.

And through our lives in wondrous ways

 Its holy purpose led

From limpid lisping cradle-days

To where the silent moonlight lays

 White hands upon the dead.

For when the Holy Morning strung

 Its beads upon the grass,

You'd see us driving-old and young-

The tall white graceful trees among.

 On every road to Mass.

It brought the brave young mother there,

 Surrounded by her brood,

To wrap their tiny hearts in prayer,

And teach them how to cast their care

 Upon the Holy Rood.

It watched the little bush girl grow,

 And kept her life from harm,

Till, spotless as the virgin snow

In wreath and veil, it saw her go

 Upon her husband's arm.

It blessed strong, trembling shoulders bent:

 Helped many a soul in thrall

To climb again the steep ascent,

And reft the grim entanglement

 That brought about the fall.

It soothed the gray old mother's pain,

 A-swaying while she told

Her rosary o’er and o'er again

For griefs that rent her heart in twain-

 So new, and ah, so old!

(There's "that poor boy who went astray,"

 And lined her gentle brow;

There's "them that's wand'rin' fur away,"

And "them that's in their grave to-day"

 And “beck'nin’” to her now.)

Refuge it gave the weary heart,

 Beyond the sordid din

And conflict of the crowded mart,

One sweet, sequestered nook apart,

 Where all might enter in.

Though high and grand cathedrals shine,

 To my mind grander still

Is that wee church of knotted pine,

That rampart on the outer line

 That stood upon the hill.

 Poem by John O'Brien