BY JOHN MARZULLI
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER


A battle is brewing over the true author of the famous spiritual poem "Footprints in the Sand."

The first shot has been fired in Long Island Federal Court by the son of the late Mary Stevenson, who is out to prove his mom composed the poem in 1939 when she was a 14-year-old showgirl.

He's suing a North Carolina woman, Carolyn Joyce Carty, who claims she wrote "Footprints" when she was 6, and Margaret Fishback Powers of Canada, who insists she penned it for her wedding in 1964.

All three women copyrighted their verses.

But Stevenson's son Basil Zangare is trying to block the other authors from selling what he considers knockoff versions of the poem on countless tchotchkes - like coffee mugs and wall clocks.

The Shirley, L.I., man is also demanding millions in damages - and recognition that Stevenson is the original author.

"In Federal District Court there will be a decision that Mary Stevenson wrote the poem, that is the goal of the lawsuit," said Richard Bartel, Zangare's lawyer.

The poem appears in slightly different versions, and is often credited to "Anonymous."

Stevenson's poem begins, "One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord." It goes on to wonder why sometimes there are two sets of footprints in the sand and other times only one.

"The times when you have seen only one set of footprints in the sand, is when I carried you," the poem answers.

Zangare doesn't sell products featuring the poem, but has permitted it to be carved on tombstones and printed in yearbooks.

Stevenson's main proof of authorship is an early copy of the poem, penned on yellow note paper, that has allegedly passed a forensic examination.

Neither Powers nor Carty could be reached.

Powers claims on her Web site that she lost a postdated envelope containing the poem.

Carty said she had permission to rewrite "Footprints," originally created by her great-great-aunt, a Sunday school teacher.

jmarzulli@nydailynews.com




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