ON THE WIDE, WHITE ROAD

The Question:

Minstrel with a song

On the wide, white road —

Loafing with the lilies of the June —

What makes you so strong

Underneath your load,

Lilting such a joyous little tune?

Tell me, little brother,

What I want to know —

Why your lips are tremulous with joy —

Why you, like a mother,

Soothe and love me so,

As she used to when I was a boy.

All the way behind

Fades into a dream

Hideous with faces in the gloom;

Phantom-terrors blind

With a lurid gleam

Glowing from Gehenna-gulfs of doom!

The Answer:

Comrade, I will tell you

How I laugh and sing,

Loafing with the lilies by the way.

Comrade, what befell you

That you missed the King

Crowned with purple pansies of the day?

Brother, Him I know —

Lord of earth and star —

Find Him with the ferns beside the pool;

All the splendours grow

Dim and fade afar,

When He walks at shut of day and cool.

Fear not to address Him —

Cosmic-Comrade He —

Lonely for the love He wants from you!

Up at once and bless Him —

Lift a jubilee

With the host of loyal hearts and true!