University of Virginia Library

THE WINDING PATH

The winding path
Come let us follow
Along the lane
And down by the hollow;
For I would fain
The way it passes,—
Through the long grasses,
The meadows, the woods,—
Seek and learn it:
What the moods,
What true uses
Lead and turn it,
What abuses
Break it, cloak it,
Twist it, choke it.
Now 't is a span;
But onward still,
Over the hill
It wider grows,
It firmer flows.
The subtle path
Its own thought hath;
It is more wise
Than you or I;
As if with eyes
That peer and try,
It feels its way
Across the day.
What little feet
Hard have packed it!
What great hoofs
Gouged and wracked it!
Rude water-courses
Cut across it,
Rocks emboss it;
A lichened cliff
Its route enforces.
Yet on it goes,
And upward flows
Through the dark pines
In wayward lines;
Past the birches
Skyward it lurches:
One more flight—
And on the hight
At last we stand,
And catch the vision
Of sky and land.