Some say that Guy of Warwick <br />The man that killed the Cow, <br />And brake the mighty Boar alive <br />Beyond the bridge at Slough; <br />Went up against a Loathly Worm <br />That wasted all the Downs, <br />And so the roads they twist and squirm <br />(If a may be allowed the term) <br />From the writhing of the stricken Worm <br />That died in seven towns. <br />I see no scientific proof <br />That this idea is sound, <br />And I should say they wound about <br />To find the town of Roundabout, <br />The merry town of Roundabout, <br />That makes the world go round. <br /> <br />Some say that Robin Goodfellow, <br />Whose lantern lights the meads <br />(To steal a phrase Sir Walter Scott <br />In heaven no longer needs), <br />Such dance around the trysting-place <br />The moonstruck lover leads; <br />Which superstition I should scout <br />There is more faith in honest doubt <br />(As Tennyson has pointed out) <br />Than in those nasty creeds. <br />But peace and righteousness (St John) <br />In Roundabout can kiss, <br />And since that's all that's found about <br />The pleasant town of Roundabout, <br />The roads they simply bound about <br />To find out where it is. <br /> <br />Some say that when Sir Lancelot <br />Went forth to find the Grail, <br />Grey Merlin wrinkled up the roads <br />For hope that he would fail; <br />All roads lead back to Lyonesse <br />And Camelot in the Vale, <br />I cannot yield assent to this <br />Extravagant hypothesis, <br />The plain, shrewd Briton will dismiss <br />Such rumours (Daily Mail). <br />But in the streets of Roundabout <br />Are no such factions found, <br />Or theories to expound about, <br />Or roll upon the ground about, <br />In the happy town of Roundabout, <br />That makes the world go round.<br /><br />Gilbert Keith Chesterton<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-road-to-roundabout-2/
