A Long Way from "Kansas"

We’re a long way from "Kansas" right now,

And the fruit has long gone from the vine,

The water is bitter with dust

And there is no sweet, heady wine.

The loaf on the table is plain

But this is our own journey-bread;

As strong as the flesh that once died,

And then was raised up from the dead.

No carnival flaunting is here

No flags wave, no trumpets shall sound

We walk a strange path through the air

And find that we tread solid ground.

No fiction of fanfares, no feast,

The heart strangely miracle-blind;

And yet, as we hold to his hand,

All fullness, all solace we find.

We sing a new song day by day,

A song which the angels can’t learn

For theirs are the wings and the light

And ours are the salt tears that burn.

But we know the measureless grace

Which carries us right to the end:

We stumble, we falter, we fall,

Yet he is already amen.