Journey

Ah, could I lay me down in this long grass

And close my eyes, and let the quite wind

Blow over me -- I am so tired, so tired

Of passing pleasant places! All my life,

Following Care along the dusty road,

Have I looked back at loveliness and sighed;

Yet at my hand an unrelenting hand

Tugged ever, as I passed. All my life long

Over my shoulder have I looked at peace;

And now I would fain lie in this long grass

And close my eyes.

Yet Onward!

Cat-birds call

Through the long afternoon, and creeks at dusk

Are gutteral. Whip-poor-wills wake and cry,

Drawing the twilight close about their throats.

Only my heart makes answer. Eager vines

Go up the r7ocks and wait; flushed apple-trees

Pause in their dance and break the ring for me;

Dim, shady wood-roads, redolent of fern

And bayberry, that through sweet bevies thread

Of round-faced roses, pink and petulant,

Look back and beckon ere they dissappear.

Only my heart, only my heat responds.

Yet, ah, my path is sweet on either side

All through the dragging day, -- sharp underfoot

And hot, and like dead mist the dry dust hangs --

But far, oh, far as passionate eye can reach,

And long, ah, long as rapturous eye can cling,

The world is mine: blue hill, still silver lake,

Broad field, bright flower, and the long white road;

A gateless garden, and an open path;

My feet to follow, and my heart to behold.