Poignant poems, often humorous, often grieving, and always beautifully crafted, based on the author's life of teaching and administration in a highly prestigious private school near Baltimore, MD. Poems of boating, living close to nature, parenting/grand-parenting, and writing. The poems take the reader (in the author's own words) " to the water's edge at midnight to witness your fear as the Great Lights flash like the first gods' own dark eyes across the crest of Borestone Mountain." The book is published posthumously as a tribute.

Hugh F. Burgess (1929-2021) was a beloved teacher and administrator at McDonogh School, near Owings Mills, MD. Teaching was his greatest passion, notably British literature and creative writing. Sebec Lake, Maine and Penny's Hill, North Carolina were favorite vacation locations, and he was a dedicated supporter of Marshy Point Nature Center in Baltimore County. Music was one of many hobbies, and he was actively engaged in amateur bands in Maine and the Baltimore area. In all activities and travels he enjoyed the companionship of his wife Anne Magee Burgess, also an educator, who passed away in 2020. An accomplished poet, Hugh's poetry collections include Dwell Within These Distances (published by Brickhouse Press in Baltimore) and Penny's Hill. He prepared this collection for publication shortly before his death. He was the author of two histories about McDonogh, McDonogh School: An Interpretive Chronology (with Robert Smoot) and McDonogh School, 1972-1997, as well as The Post-Civil War Diaries (1872-1889 of Colonel William Allan (McDonogh's first principal).