As pages crest dark Centuries

To fall on favored ways,

A kindness drops not lifeless,

But lives on with endless days.

Though black voids reign unchallenged yet

And angry seas do roar

The smile you sent in love is now

Alive forever more.

Its measure cannot waste way

Though hid by sufferings

It shall be found on future shores

Where peasants smile as kings.

Those shores exist within each day

Where golden sunlight shines

Where silver seas kiss crystal shores

And breezes sooth the pines;

Where lasting peace fills every well

And flowers paint the way,

Where love and you and I are one –

The land within a day.

That land within a day is you – 

The world within your smile,

The smile you freely gave in love

That made my life worthwhile.

Circa 1973 or 1974, Memphis