At first a mere thread of a footpath half blotted out by the grasses <br />Sweeping triumphant across it, it wound between hedges of roses <br />Whose blossoms were poised above leaves as pond lilies float on the water, <br />While hidden by bloom in a hawthorn a bird filled the morning with singing. <br /> <br />It widened a highway, majestic, stretching ever to distant horizons, <br />Where shadows of tree-branches wavered, vague outlines invaded by sunshine; <br />No sound but the wind as it whispered the secrets of earth to the flowers, <br />And the hum of the yellow bees, honey-laden and dusty with pollen. <br />And Summer said, "Come, follow onward, with no thought save the longing to wander, <br />The wind, and the bees, and the flowers, all singing the great song of Nature, <br />Are minstrels of change and of promise, they herald the joy of the Future." <br /> <br />Later the solitude vanished, confused and distracted the road <br />Where many were seeking and jostling. Left behind were the trees and the flowers, <br />The half-realized beauty of quiet, the sacred unconscious communing. <br />And now he is come to a river, a line of gray, sullen water, <br />Not blue and splashing, but dark, rolling somberly on to the ocean. <br />But on the far side is a city whose windows flame gold in the sunset. <br />It lies fair and shining before him, a gem set betwixt sky and water, <br />And spanning the river a bridge, frail promise to longing desire, <br />Flung by man in his infinite courage, across the stern force of the water; <br />And he looks at the river and fears, the bridge is so slight, yet he ventures <br />His life to its fragile keeping, if it fails the waves will engulf him. <br />O Arches! be strong to uphold him, and bear him across to the city, <br />The beautiful city whose spires still glow with the fires of sunset!<br /><br />Amy Lowell<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-way-2/
