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pain, cause I ain't never seen a nigger turn white, but he was. They
all got real close when he was trying to say something, and I got a
piece of paper cause I thought he was going to die, and I figured he
wanted to give his will. He tried to say something again, but we
couldn't understand him. Finally he got it out. "Boys, ... don't-
for-get ta ... ta get-rna ... corn licker ... for me."

Sonnets

To be enclosed within the arms of earth,
To be as one with nature and her host,
So closely pressed unto the heart of earth,
So deeply in her timeless beauty lost
As ne'er to find the way of lesser things,
As imperfection of the human mind,
The troubled thoughts which human weakness brings,
Or all the futile passions of mankind;
To be the bud of every blooming rose,
To be the crest of every rising hill,
To be the blush of sunset at the close
Of day, whose beauty never fades, nor will;
To be the sparkle in each drifting stream,
This is my wish, my hope, my constant dream.

The stars do shine but briefly in the night,
Ere dawn o'ertakes them and doth quench their fires,
And too, the sun is hasty in his flight,
And bids the stars too soon take up their fires
To shine again into an early dawn.
And so it is with earth, and all the things
Of life, whose balance is so finely drawn,
That never happiness, but sorrow brings,
Nor any torment without hope of rest,
Not one brave heart that never knew a fear,
Nor evil one that thought not to be blessed.
There is no smile that never knew a tear,
Nor any hatred without hope of love,
Nor any depth which cannot look above.

Mary Hendren

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