I must do as you do? Your way I own <br />Is a very good way, and still, <br />There are sometimes two straight roads to a town, <br />One over, one under the hill. <br /> <br />You are treading the safe and the well-worn way, <br />That the prudent choose each time; <br />And you think me reckless and rash to-day <br />Because I prefer to climb. <br /> <br />Your path is the right one, and so is mine. <br />We are not like peas in a pod, <br />Compelled to lie in a certain line, <br />Or else be scattered abroad. <br /> <br />'T were a dull old world, methinks, my friend, <br />If we all just went one way; <br />Yet our paths will meet no doubt at the end, <br />Though they lead apart today. <br /> <br />You like the shade, and I like the sun; <br />You like an even pace, <br />I like to mix with the crowd and run, <br />And then rest after the race. <br /> <br />I like danger, and storm, and strife, <br />You like a peaceful time; <br />I like the passion and surge of life, <br />You like its gentle rhyme. <br /> <br />You like buttercups, dewy sweet, <br />And crocuses, framed in snow; <br />I like roses, born of the heat, <br />And the red carnation's glow. <br /> <br />I must live my life, not yours, my friend, <br />For so it was written down; <br />We must follow our given paths to the end, <br />But I trust we shall meet--in town.<br /><br />Ella Wheeler Wilcox<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/advice/
