Chart back as best he might the way he'd come And not a turn but still seemed best to choose. Yet he had reached a wilderness, wherefrom He must escape or all the struggle lose. The urgency to act was thick upon him, But still he paused to place the past mistake -- Inevitable blameless by-gones stun him, His loyalties to shaping justice break. At last he saw and took, like one quite tired, The path ahead, obscure and full of stress: To see was easy, but to take required The solemn fortitude of hopelessness. His clothes are shiny now that once were napped: The liveliest beast grows somewhat seedy, trapped. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...WHAT WE SAID THE LIGHT SAID by JAMES GALVIN SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: GODWIN JAMES by EDGAR LEE MASTERS NORTH WIND TO DUTIFUL BEAST MIDWAY BETWEEN DIAL & FOOT OF GARDEN CLOCK by MARIANNE MOORE SUNSET FROM OMAHA HOTEL WINDOW by CARL SANDBURG THE COAT OF FIRE by EDITH SITWELL GOOD-BYE DOROTHY GAYLE: THE ROAD TO BUFFALO by KAREN SWENSON |