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THE HOLY WOMEN
I have seen Mary at the cross
   And Mary at the tomb
And Mary weeping as she spread her hair
   In a leper's room.
But it was not in Bethany
   Or groping up Calvary hill
I learned how women break their hearts to ease
   Another's ill.

Compassionate and wise in pain,
   Most faithful in defeat,
The holy Marys I have watched and loved
   Live on our street.

Contemporary VerseWilliam Alexander Percy


"I ACCEPT"
I shall go out as all men go,
Spent flickers in a mighty wind,
Then I shall know, as all must know,
What lies the great gray veil behind.

There may be nothing but a deep
And timeless void without a name
Where no sun hangs, no dead stars sleep,
And there is neither light nor flame.

There may be meadows there and hills,
Mountains and plains and winds that blow,
And flowers bending over rills
Springing from an eternal snow.

There may be oceans white with foam
And great tall ships for hungry men
Who called our little salt seas home
And burn to launch their keels again.

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