There was an old stone cutter   Who lived in a cabin on the mountain side   And the old stone cutter   Knew it won't be long before he died      And all around his cabin   Were statues the man had made   Statues that the buyers said   Were all of a mediocre grade      With his calloused hands he lit a lamp   And laid down his head on his handmade table   And he softly whispered Lord I'm old and shaky   And I'm hardly able      But give me strength and wisdom   And give me a week at least   And I'll climb up to the top of this mountain   And chisel out a masterpiece      The very next morning he felt new strength   And he took his brand new hammer and the sharpest chisel   He began to climb the mountain his old feet   Slipping in the freezing drizzle      When he finally reached the top   He shouted to a world that didn't hear   I'll carve my masterpiece   Out of this marble boulder here      So the hammer beat the chisel   And he hammered till an image grew   Then he stopped to look it over   To appraise his work when he was through      It was a boy carrying a crippled boy   And the old man said it isn't my masterpiece   I'll call it charity   And then a masterpiece of mine will be      So the hammer beat the chisel   Till another image in a marble grew   Then the wind began to blowing   And he sat and rested when he was through      It was the image of a mother holding her child   He said this is love as the world would know   But it isn't my masterpiece   And he began again as it began to snow      The hammer beat the chisel as the snow fell harder   And the wind grew and grew   He fell to his knees holding a stone   And he threw down his hammer and his chisel too      He lay frozen face down in the snow   But one hand was held for the world to see   Cut in the marble was his masterpiece   Three neatly carved letters G O D