Clare Harner (1909 - 1977) was born in Green, Kansas. Demonstrating a talent for piano and poetry from an early age, she was also a gifted seamstress and an excellent student. At Kansas State University, she studied industrial journalism and clothing design and briefly owned a clothing store in Aggieville, Kansas before moving to Topeka. There, she worked as a social worker and secretary before moving first to Denver, then to San Francisco, where she joined the staff of Fairchild Publications. During all this time, she actively wrote and published poetry. This poem first appeared in the December 1934 issue of The Gypsy magazine and was reprinted in their February 1935 issue.

This beautiful poem is probably one of the world's best known and best loved but, over the years, numerous variations of it have been attributed to Mary Elizabeth Clark Frye, a Baltimore housewife; Stephen Cummins, a British soldier; J.T. Wiggins, an Englishman who migrated to America; and Marianne Reinhardt (no details found). It's also been alleged as a Navajo burial prayer. Extensive research on our part, along with corroborating evidence from several readers, has led us to conclude that the poem was indeed written by Clare Harner. There is still some question about the exact original wording, though, so our research will continue!