I STEADY my staff at the crossroads, it falls with the breeze from the south, I hie to the northern meadows with the kiss of the morn on my mouth, The dawn is of opal and ruby, the dew glitters soft on my breast, And the road lies away o'er the world, and the life of the road is the best. The gossamer lies on the greensward like threads made of silvery fire, And the breeze in the hedgerows is singing like strains of a magical lyre; There is lure in the woods of the east-land, and health in the fields of the west, And the road lieth over the world, and the life of the road is the best. I steady my staff at the crossroads, it speaks of a southern land In the winning and wonderful language the staff and myself understand, For wherever it falls I will follow, nor question its loving behest, For the road runs the wide world over, and the life of the road is the best. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A GIRL'S GARDEN by ROBERT FROST ON A FLOWER FROM THE FIELD OF GRUTLI by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS BY THE STATUE OF KING CHARLES AT CHARING CROSS by LIONEL PIGOT JOHNSON THE MAID OF NEIDPATH by WALTER SCOTT POCAHONTAS [JANUARY 5, 1608] by WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY THE ARGONAUTS (ARGONATUICA): MEDEA BETRAYED by APOLLONIUS RHODIUS TO MY FRIENDS, WHO RIDICULED A TENDER LEAVE-TAKING by MATTHEW ARNOLD |