Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Jessie B. Rittenhouse, ed. (1869–1948). The Second Book of Modern Verse. 1922.

The Path that leads to Nowhere

THERE’S a path that leads to Nowhere

In a meadow that I know,

Where an inland island rises

And the stream is still and slow;

There it wanders under willows

And beneath the silver green

Of the birches’ silent shadows

Where the early violets lean.

Other pathways lead to Somewhere,

But the one I love so well

Had no end and no beginning—

Just the beauty of the dell,

Just the windflowers and the lilies

Yellow striped as adder’s tongue,

Seem to satisfy my pathway

As it winds their sweets among.

There I go to meet the Springtime,

When the meadow is aglow,

Marigolds amid the marshes,—

And the stream is still and slow.—

There I find my fair oasis,

And with care-free feet I tread

For the pathway leads to Nowhere,

And the blue is overhead!

All the ways that lead to Somewhere

Echo with the hurrying feet

Of the Struggling and the Striving,

But the way I find so sweet

Bids me dream and bids me linger,

Joy and Beauty are its goal,—

On the path that leads to Nowhere

I have sometimes found my soul!