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SUNSHINE by AMOS RUSSEL WELLS

First Line: THE AIR IS FULL OF A WITCHERY, SILENT, UNFELT, AND UNSEEN
Last Line: THERE WIDENS OUT IN THE HEARTS OF MEN THE BEAUTIFUL PEACE OF GOD.

The air is full of a witchery, silent, unfelt, and unseen;
Yet it touches the black pine woods, and they flash to a riot of green;
It breathes on the diffident birches, and lo! they are dancing in white,
And it paints on the slopes of the barren fields a picture of delight.

I do not know what the magic is, but I think I have seen the same
In a quiet life, a transparent life, and the world knows not her name;
But, herself unnoted, a touch, a breath, where the sad and the sullen were,
And the dark is light, and the gloom is bright, at the very thought of her.

I do not know what the magic is that dwells in her quickening face,
No book have I to the witchery that wraps her around with grace;
But this I know, be it mirth or woe, where her blessed feet have trod,
There widens out in the hearts of men the beautiful peace of God.



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