Margaret Fishback Powers

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Margaret Fishback Powers (* around 1944 in Tillsonburg , Canada) is a Canadian author for children and young people . She wrote on the weekend of Thanksgiving 1964 in Echo Lake Camp in Kingston , the Christian poem Footprints in the Sand (in the original: Footprints ), originally titled I Had a Dream wore.

Live and act

Margaret Fishback, of German ancestry, was born in Tillsonburg and grew up with her five siblings on a farm in Canada . She attended Tillsonburg High School. Even as a child she loved to write down her thoughts in rhyme form. When she wrote the poem Traces in the Sand in 1964 , she was in her early twenties. Shortly before, she was seriously wounded by a lightning strike and had to temporarily stop teaching. In addition, their relationship broke up and she returned to her parents. There she met Paul Powers, who finally asked for her hand. This situation led to the writing of the work, which was later published as a poem.

She passed some copies on to friends. Years later she discovered her text in a bookshop, but in a modified form. Another person was named as the author. Her verses had been marketed on greeting cards, posters, coffee mugs, and T-shirts for more than twenty years. For a long time she fought in court for her rights and to reach an agreement with the publisher, but this failed. When she found her old wedding magazine with the poem in moving boxes that were believed to be lost, she was able to provide legally tangible proof of her authorship. However, when it finally threatened to break up her family, she withdrew from the legal battle and waived her claims.

In her autobiography, which was published in 1996 under the title Traces in the Sand , she reports on the unsightly conflicts over rights that shaped the life of the German-Canadian in Canada. The owner of the German rights is the Brunnen Verlag in Gießen . The German publishing house also had to legally enforce its author's rights against competitors. On May 22, 2007, the Frankfurt Regional Court issued a verdict that granted Margaret Fishback Powers authorship for the German-speaking countries. So far, the poem has been distributed under the heading “Author unknown” - as in the 1st edition of the Evangelical Hymn Book of the EKD, Württemberg edition and Bavaria edition - or with the source “from Taizé ”. The only authorized translation of the poem was made by Eva-Maria Busch.

Paul and Margaret Fishback Powers live in Coquitlam , Canada and are particularly involved in the field of Christian child labor.

Reception to the poem

The poem inspired the musician and composer Gregor Linßen so much that he wrote the song "Deine Spur im Sand" in 1994, which was also approved by Powers. The most widespread setting of the text dates from 1998 and is by Siegfried Fietz . The singer Drafi Deutscher set a variant of the poem to music as did the Austrian singer-songwriter Rainhard Fendrich , who published the poem on his 2004 CD AufLeben under the title Serenata por un amigo .

The use of the poem in homiletics is highly controversial today, as the poem has now become a common Christian place.

Traces in the Sand - Born of God was released by Abakus in 2012 as a musical with the musical implementation by Siegfried Fietz and texts by Hermann Schulze-Berndt .

Works (selection)

  • A heart for children. Inspirations for parents & their children. HarperCollins, Toronto 1995, ISBN 0-00-255421-6 .
  • Traces in the sand. A poem that moves millions and its story. Brunnen Verlag, Giessen 1996, ISBN 3-7655-1594-9 .
  • Margaret fishback powers. HarperCollins, Toronto 1996, ISBN 0-00-255413-5 .
  • Good luck & good luck happy birthday! Benno, Leipzig 2007, ISBN 978-3-7462-2165-6 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from May 17, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.tillsonburgnews.com
  2. ↑ Cindy Stephen: Footprints author in Calgary on calgarychristian.com, accessed February 22, 2014.
  3. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from May 17, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.tillsonburgnews.com
  4. ↑ a b Margaret Fishback Powers - Wherever you saw a trace, I carried you .... on brunnen-verlag.de, accessed on February 22, 2014.
  5. ↑ Traces in the sand - worn by God ABAKUS, ISBN 978-3-88124-503-6 . at de.scribd.com, accessed February 22, 2014.
personal data
SURNAME Powers, Margaret Fishback
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fishback, Margaret (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Author of a poem
DATE OF BIRTH around 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH Tillsonburg , Canada