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First Line: When in some distant timelessness
Last Line: "and there was warmth in peoples' hands!"


When in some distant timelessness
We pace an endless, golden shore,
Perhaps my ghostly friends and I
Will call to mind our lives before.

If one should say, "The Planet Earth --
That was a place where sorrow grew,
And people paid a bitter price
For all the happiness they knew!"

I should reply, "It may have been
That Earth required a heavy toll,
But if I bore my share of pain,
Its memory escapes my soul,

And all that I can recollect
Is how the dogwood trees, in spring,
Stood white against the forest's rim,
And set its darkness shimmering;

How summer mornings drowsed with bees,
And nights cried out with whippoorwills,
How autumn wore a purple veil,
And silver winter hushed the hills;

And how my spirit stayed at home
And never longed for other lands,
For Earth felt firm beneath my feet,
And there was warmth in peoples' hands!"





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