From Shadow - Sun Poem by Bonnie Elizabeth Parker

Bonnie Parker wrote this poem, by Agnes L. Pratt, from memory with some cute substitutions, into her bank book from The First National Bank Of Burkburnett Texas, as the fifth of ten poems, during her stay in the Kaufman County Jail in 1932.

01:
I learn as the years roll onward
And leave the past behind
That much I have counted sorrow
But proves our God is kind

02:
That many a smile I longed for
Had a hidden thorn of pain
And many a rugged pathway
Led to fields of ripening grain

03:
The clouds must cover the sunshine
But cannot banish the Sun
And the Earth shines all the brighter
When the weary rain is done

04:
We must stand the deepest sorrow
To see the clearest light
And often from wrongs own darkness
Comes the very strength of right

05:
We must live through the weary winter
If we would value the spring
And the woods must be cold and silent
Before the robin sings

06:
The flowers must be buried in darkness
Before they can bud and bloom
The sweetest and warmest sunshine
Comes after the storm and gloom

07:
So the heart from the hardest trials
Gaines the purest joy of all
And from lips that have tasted sadness
The sweetest songs will fall

08:
For as peace comes after suffering
And love is reward for pain
So after Earth comes Heaven
And out of our loss is gain

END