Cross Roads

PREFACE

     The candlelight sweeps softly through the room,
        Filling dim surfaces with golden laughter,
        Touching with mystery each high hung rafter,
     Cutting a path of promise through the gloom.

     Slim little elves dance gently on each taper,
        Wistful, small ghosts steal out of shrouded
           corners—
        And, like a line of vague enchanted mourners,
     Great shadows sway like wind-blown sheets of paper.

     Gently as fingers drawn across your hair,
        I see the yellow flicker of it creep—
        And in a silence that is kin to sleep,
     I feel a world away from pain and care.

     Roads stretch like arms across the world outside,
        Roads reach to strife, to happiness, to fame—
        Here, in the candlelight, I speak your name,
     Here we are at life's cross way, side by side!

     OH, THERE ARE BROOKS THERE, AND FIELDS THERE AND NOOKS
              THERE—
        NOOKS WHERE A SEEKER MAY FIND FOREST FLOWERS;
     BLUE IS THE SKY THERE, AND SOFT WINDS CREEP BY THERE,
        SINGING A SONG THROUGH THE LONG SUMMER HOURS.