Poetry of Mary Francis White Bartley Kierepka
My SunbeamI caught a sunbeam in my hand
It glowed and glowed like golden sand
I lay upon the sand all day
My sunbeam washed my cares away
If I could stay ‘til shadows fall
Just lying there forgetting all
To be at peace with God and man
And all that goes throughout the land.
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Lost
Lost in the middle of a crowd
Who knows that I’m around?
I wonder here and yonder,
Around this lonesome town
My home and friends are far away
I wish that I were there
To hold them in my arms once more
And tell them that I care
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God’s Love
God is on his throne in Heaven,
And we hear the angels sing
He is at our side forever
Here on Earth that he might bring
Us to his golden home up yonder
Heaven’s just a step away.
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If
If I could be a kid again
And live my life anew
And knew the things that I know now
The things that I could do
I could climb the highest mountain
And sail the farthest sea
I would catch my home and loved ones
And hold them close to me
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The Guiding Light
I walked alone in the shadows
Of the night
Until God came with his guiding light
I stumbled in the darkness
And could not find the road
The hand of God reached out to me
And helped me with my load
I prayed and then I stumbled
The mistakes are all my own
But I know that God is always
Near to help me with my load
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Shadows of My Life
In the shadows of my life
I see the mountains fall
All the things that I loved most
The mountain buried all
I stood and watched it from afar
And felt so all alone
Then through the shadows and the dust
I saw a figure stand
And with the love that I had lost
Reached out and touched my hand.
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Sorrow
The sun is shining in my window
I can hear the morning bird sing
In my heart I’m feeling sorrow
I wish that I could feel the spring
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Over Yonder
I will see you over yonder
In that glorious land above
Where the sweetest of the angels
Guide us through the land of love
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Untitled
We go on our way, from day to day,
The best that we know how.
Sometimes we’d do things different
If we knew what we know now.
But we can’t know the future
And past we cannot change
So if you fall along the way
Get up and start again
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Love Forever
The love we had is not lost by death
It lives with us forever
Our children and our grandchildren
Are part of you and me
And someday when this life is over
I’ll be with you forever
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Things I Remember
Children playing by the fireside
On a cold and winter day
Mothers working in the kitchen
Singing softly all the way
Clothing hanging on the clothesline
Flapping gently in the breeze
Cows are laying in the barnyard
Chickens scratching where they please
Raindrops dancing on the window
While I am snuggled in my bed
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Speak To Me Softly
Speak to me softly
My love in the wind
The whisper of the trees
Will bring it to me
Speak to me through
The song of the birds
You are always near me
I hear every word.
Your love is in the wind
That blows in the trees
In the gentle rain
And the roaring seas
I see your face in the rainbow
And the stars that shine so bright
You are always near me
As close as the night
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God’s Flower Bed
How beautiful the flowers are
Across the meadowland
They look like they were planted there
By some invisible hand
As you ride along the highway
And the road along the way
Their colors are like rainbows
As in the wind they dance and sway
You can see some pretty flowers
People plant with bowed heads
But they’re not quite as beautiful
As God’s own flowerbed.
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Untitled
I know that God can show the way
If we only seek and pray
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
Seek and you shall find
God will be with you all the way
Though rain and fog may blind
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Lost Time
Deep in the shadows of my life
I hide my sorrow
For all the things I did not do
I could not find the time
I did not find the time
And then it’s gone.
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Time is What We Make It
When we are children, very small
Around our mother’s knee
We think the time will never come
When we are grown you see
Then we are teens we hang around
It seems so very long
“When will we be adults?” we say
And be out on our own.
Then we are young adults
With children of our own
We run around this busy life
When will they be grown?
And then we’re old we ask ourselves
Where has the years all gone?
We turn around a time or two
Then we are all alone.
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World of Beauty
I have to write what’s in my heart
Right now lest I forget
The beauty of the flowers
That grow upon the way
The blue jay and the mockingbird
I love to see them play
The little squirrel that sets upon
The branches of the trees
The butterfly and the hummingbird
The humming of the bees
When I feel blue and sad and down
I stop and look around
At all the beauty of the world
God gave to us abound.
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7th Child
I was born in a dust storm,
In a Texas cotton field,
In the middle of the Depression,
In the year of 32.
Seventh child to my mother,
Who had all the mouths to feed
Here I came a little sapling,
In a great big family,
Raised on cornbread, milk, and taters,
And a lot of love you see.
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My Love
Love to Me is lost in time
A long, long time ago.
There was a happier time than this,
With faces all aglow.
I thought it would last forever
That time of love and peace.
With children around the fireside
A home of love uncested.
That time has gone forever
And trouble weighs me down.
But I thank God in Heaven,
For the happy years we found.
And the children and the Grandchildren
That will live on after me.
They are part of us forever
I love them all you see.
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Untitled
The sun is shining in my window
I can hear them morning birds sing
In my heart I’m feeling sorrow
I wish that I could feel the spring.
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Untitled
We try to do the best we can,
For we are here but a little while
We think we’ve reached out for the end
But we have to walk the other mile.
Lord God above, please take my hand,
That I might reach the other land.
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Untitled
So far to go before I go home
I have no real home here
Just a house that I live in
There’s a better home somewhere
There was someone who cared for me
And they are already there.
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Sad Moments
Dark clouds hover over
And darkness is near
I feel the darkness everywhere
I cannot find the light
No matter what I try to do
It never seems quite right
I stumble on and on and on
I cannot find the door
The door to happiness it seems
Is closed forever more
But when I cannot find the way
I know that God is near
If I reach out and call his name
I know that he will hear.
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Gift of Love
Love is a gift of God
A treasure to be held
I love my darling babies
More than all the world’s gold
I know I haven’t much to give
But I would give all that’s mine
If I could give them happiness
And health, and love entwine
To me this life holds nothing more
My life is nearly gone
I feel that I have failed in life
Most of the tests I should have won
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Life Cycle
To live is to love
To love is to live
The beginning of it all
We start out so very small
With few needs of our own
To be loved by Mom and Dad
And cared for ‘til we’re grown
We go through life
Looking this way and that
Our fortunes to be made
And then, in the end
As it was to begin
To be loved is all that we need
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Untitled
I see your face in the rainbow
And the stars that shine at night
You will always be near me
As near to me as light
Your love is in the wind
That blows in the trees
The gentle rain
And the roaring seas
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Home
Your home may be a mansion
Upon a mountain side
Or a little shack by the river
With only love inside.
But the feeling you get in the evening
When it’s time to go home again
Of love and peace and laughter
Your tired and weary soul will mend.
You may wonder the whole world over
And strange, beautiful places see
But home is the place you dream of
No matter where you may be.
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The Last Row to Hoe
It’s been a long day
We’ve lived a good life
Good or bad we made it through
But it’s been a long day
And it’s time to go home
The sun is getting low
Dusty dark is near
So it’s been a long day
And its time to go home
Mom is waiting there
With supper on the stove
Biscuits and gravy, cornbread and beans, and more
Maybe ham or even rabbit stew
It’s been a long day
And its time to go home
This is the last row to hoe.
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Mary Francis Kierepka
3/17/1932-9/28/2017
You will be greatly missed, but you will never be forgotten. I love and miss you, Grandma.
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