When Sarah was about 20, she would play piano in the pre-dinner hour every day in the “parlor” of our rented home in Monument, Colorado. I would sit in a comfy chair behind her, close my eyes, and let the music flow into my spirit. I liked to call that time my daily “Sarahpy.” I requested one song in particular every day, an unnamed original composition by Sarah. As a songwriter, I soon added words to the opening line of her music, which became the name of the song: “There Is a Place My Heart Calls Home.” Many years later, I wrote words for an entire song based on her music. And then a number more years later I wrote this poem based on the lyrics of that song.
THERE IS A PLACE
There is a place my heart calls home
That beckons to my weary soul
From distant hills I hear its song
With lyrics from an ancient scroll
A storied place where I am bound
Where I’ll be loved as I am known
I’ll journey on until I’m found
In that place my heart calls home
This road of life can seem so long
And though it seems I walk alone
I hear a voice that leads me on
To paths that wend the way to home
Through teeming tempest, gusting storm
‘Neath vaulted vales of timeless space
In muted fears before the morn
In black of night that hides his face
With dimming light as life declines
I’ll sing till final breath, one psalm
Of hope unfailing, love divine
Of passing night and breaking dawn
Then waking from this mortal dream
With voice revived I’ll sing the song
A melody of life redeemed
In the place my heart calls home
Copyright 2026 Clay Clarkson