Page:Backblock Ballads and Later Verses (C.J. Dennis, 1918).djvu/34

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Feel I'd lived by helpin' others; earned the right to call 'em brothers Who had gained while I was gamin' from God's earth His gift of wheat. When the settin' sun is gettin' low above the western hills, When the creepin' shadows deepen, and a peace the whole land fills, Then I often sort o' soften with a feelin' like content, An' I feel like thankin' Heaven for a day in labour spent. For my father was a farmer, an' he used to sit an' smile, Realizin' he was wealthy in what makes a life worth while. Smilin', he has told me often, "After all the toil an' heat, Lad, he's paid in more than silver who has grown one field of wheat." ''Wheat, Wheat, Wheat! When it comes my turn to meet'' Death the Reaper, an' the Keeper of the Judgment Book I greet, Then I'll face 'em sort o' calmer with the solace of the farmer That he's fed a million brothers with his Wheat, Wheat, Wheat.