Hello, I'm Billy Paul Hall

Download  Bye & Bye  my latest story in PDF format.

Copyright @ 2002-2007 Billy Paul Hall - All rights reserved
"Autumn Trails" @ Hall/Fanning
Website and art comments by Barto Fanning

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.Spring Shower

Day after day the wind has blown from the southwest. There was just enough moisture from winter for the trees to bud out. Then. suddenly. rain! A lot of it, and as quickly gone. Too hard to soak in, too flat to run off, the earth just holds the precious water in her hands a little while. For a few minutes we are permittrd to enjoy it; to gawk at it, to stomp in it, to revel in it. Life is good.

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.The Legacy

The violin is fickle, like a woman. It cries like a woman. It cannot make up its mind what note to give you before it tries it out. There is no rhyme or reason to the melody it makes.

My guitar, my wonderful guitar, it calls the time, it sets the beat, it leads all the way . . . faster, faster . . . listen to it ring. The music is in our soul, buried there before first memories. Part of us, it says who we are, even more than the way we dress, or how we talk.

I play well, I know all the chords, I am the master of the guitar. But the violin is sweet, and soft. Perhaps, if I spend a little time alone with it, caress it and hum softly . . . maybe she will tell me her secrets and give me a little tune. Who knows?

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You gonna do WHAT?

Dat's right, yeah, dis be a fine dog iff'n we git a clean cut. Not too short, not too long, yeah, right 'bout d'are. We gotta do it today, he might git his eyes open by tomorrow. You know we got to do it before he gits his eyes open. If we do it after he seen it, he be a sorry dog all his life. Iff'n he ever see it, he'd grieve over it til he die. He always be lookin back to see iff'n it be d'are.

Gimme dat hand axe, boy, and hold him tight...

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The Old Well

It was more than just sweet and cool. Maybe it was the oaken well bucket, or the gourd dipper, or the moss that grew on the walls, but no water ever tasted so good. I kept thinking I would stop there next trip home and get a drink. I mentioned it to Junior last time I saw him. "Why, it dried up right after the seismograph crew came through." Too bad.

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Fruit Jar and Apples

I wonder why they called it apple butter? Mama just cooked that applesauce down for hours and hours in a copper kettle on the woodstove. A dash of cinnamon, a pinch of oldspice and cloves, and when it was dark brown, a little honey to taste. We got a little while it was still warm, but most of it went into fruit jars destined for a hot buscuit on a cold morning next winter.

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On The Trail Again

Nothing comes easy here, not even death. It is a hard land, it is a hard life, and these are hard men. Wrestling existance from the badlands you got to be hard. I will share this ride with them 'til the job that has to be done is done, and then back to the solitude, the loneliness of this godforsaken land.

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.Bluebonnets

Gen 1:12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. ...but He saw it could be better and scattered in the land of Texas seeds of Bluebonnet, Black-eyed Susans, Indian Paint Brushes...

Then it was real good.

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.Sunrise in New Mexico

Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it may toll for thee.

But not today! Today only happiness in the mission. Today I don my gay apparel and claim my bride, the lovely Anita. This is our wedding day.

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Nature's Arch.

In majesty they rise from the earth to proclaim the glory of the Creator, ignoring the entanglements of the vines beneath their dignity.

Let us be as the trees that are planted by the water, steadfast, straight and true. Let us glorify Him in this world He so loved, and in His grace and power rise above adversity and temptation.

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Zinnias and Okra

The trick is to pick out the okra blooms.....should be easy for someone coming from Winnsboro. We always had a garden and a few flowers. One thing I could never stand to eat was ...Pokesalad. My grandpa said he liked it best with hog brains . People had some strange tastes back then ...maybe from necessity. I have a garden that I have enjoyed for 28 years --about 20 x 30 feet. Kept my friends supplied with okra seed until 4-5 years ago. Still grow tomatoes, peppers, etc. When Spring arrives--I go into a trance ---wake up after I have planted something. . . . BPH

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