'Footprints' Forensics

Comment: There are various versions. Below is one:

One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.

In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints, other times there was one only.

This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life, when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints, so I said to the Lord,

“You promised me Lord, that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there has only been one set of footprints in the sand. Why, when I needed you most, have you not been there for me?”

The Lord replied, “The years when you have seen only one set of footprints, my child, is when I carried you.”


'Footprints' Forensics: Families battle over who owns the famous poem

Excerpt:

"Author Unknown" once asked Jesus why there was only one set of footprints in the sand during life's most perilous moments.

Now a federal court on Long Island is trying to decide just whose footprints were next to Jesus' during the better times.

Basil Zangare of Shirley, New York, claims they belonged to his late mother, Mary Stevenson, and that she's the "author unknown" whose "Footprints in the Sand" poem is depicted on countless posters, coffee mugs, and pocket cards.

Zangare filed suit on May 12 in federal court, claiming his mother penned the famous words in the 1930s and registered them with the U.S. Copyright Office in 1984.

"My client wants to preserve for all time the knowledge in the public that his mother wrote this poem," said Zangare's lawyer, Richard Bartel, who is based in Remsenburg, New York.

Not so fast, says the lawyer for Canadian traveling evangelist Margaret Fishback Powers, one of the women named in Zangare's suit.

"In a nutshell, it's baseless," said Powers's San Francisco attorney, John A. Hughes.

Hughes said Zangare waited too long to sue and, besides, the registration of a copyright doesn't prove absolute authorship. Powers, who lives in Coquitlam, British Columbia, is the only one with a registered trademark for "Footprints" and "Footprints in the Sand," he said.



"Footprints in the Sand"

Comment: I personally think the poem is sappy drivel! But to each their own!

Three versions