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A Song for Kansas Day

Wandering children of Kansas away,
By mountain, by desert, or sea,
Feasting or fasting, at prayer or at play,
Whatever your fortunes may be,
Open the doors of your hearts to the breeze,
Prairie wind never are still,
Hark to the surf in the cottonwood trees,
The breakers that boom on the hill.
Open your soul’s windows–let in the sun–
The prairie sun gay with delight.
Where’er your wandering pathways have run,
Come home tonight.

Come home where Kansas lies under the stars
Twinkling back beauty and joy;
Come and let homely love poultice your scars,
Leave off your restless employ.
Come home where summer winds billow the wheat,
Where golden tides cover the sands;
Come–let your heart’s longings hasten your feet
And home love unfetter your hands.
Come where the tawny sunflower eagerly bends
A tawny frank face to the light,
So do our hearts seek the joy of old friends–
Come home tonight.
— William Allen White, “A Song for Kansas Day”