Poetry Archives

So now I take a bitter road
         Whereon no bourne I see,
And wearily I lift the load
         That once I bore with glee.
For me no more by sea or shore
         Adventure’s star shall burn,
As I forsake wild ways to take
         The Trail of No Return.
         
Such paths of peril I have trod:
         In sun and shade they lay.
And some went wistfully to God,
         And some the devil’s way.
But there is one I may not shun,
         Though long my life’s sojourn:
A dawn will break when I must take
         The Trail of No Return.

Farewell to friends, good-bye to foes,
         Adieu to smile or frown;
My voyaging is nigh its close,
         And dark is drifting down.
With weary feet my way I beat,
         Yet holy light discern . . .
So let me take without heart-break
         The Trail of No Return.