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I walked alone down a small country lane as the world lay in shimmering heat.

The earth was parched and barren and dead, and dust swirls danced at my feet.

No songbirds sang, no hint of a breeze, not a single sound did I hear.

The earth lay in silence, the silence of death, until a sound faintly fell on my ear.

Far off in the distance the sound softly rolled from a lonely, whistling train.

Nostalgia was churning deep in my soul, and I longed for my childhood again.

I imagined I was riding that train through a land where the fields were all covered in green.

And sparkling clean water flowed down from the hills in a promised land I'd never seen.

Where was the green haven that beckoned to me? It wasn't the home of my youth!

Yet I felt that I'd seen it, a brief deja vu, and I tugged at my memory for truth.

I envisioned small children in Sunday attire walking softly on velvety grass.

The church bell that summoned them rang loud and clear. Was it all an event from my past?

I tried to remember a place such as this where the trees smelled so blossomy sweet.

And the fertile green valley gave promise to man of abundance to place at his feet.

Then the heat from the sun, with a tug at my thoughts, pulled me back to reality.

Where a moment before I had walked in cool shade, now just hot barren earth did
I see.

But I noticed the clouds had built up in the sky and were offering mute promise
of rain.

And then I envisioned how this land would look with green meadows spread over the plain.

And I knew where I'd journeyed in my longing daydream...the promised land
fertile and green,

Was the same land before me long after the drought. It was a glimpse of the
future I'd seen.

Learn more about this author, Shirley Love.
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