Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 141, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 June 1913 — POETRY WORTH READING [ARTICLE]

POETRY WORTH READING

All Roads LMd Home. From out of the valley four roads wind away Like pale brown ribbons in a grassy sea, r And one leads south another north lies free. And east and west afar the others stray. Which shall I follow? East, to the old home. Where once the hand of love held Wide the door? Westward, where still adventure goes before And the great, prairjes welcome feet that roam? Shall I go South where winter roses bloom, And spring usurps all months of the bright year? Or North, where the great pines make music clear And the long winters robe the world In gloom?

Why should I choose? The home my youth held dear Is but a shell, with strange, unfriendly mien: Less weary hands adventure’s fields may glean, Too far, too strange the West whose strength I fear. The South would cloy me with Its mgeless sweet The North would pierce me with its icy dart; Roads wind away, but oh, fear not, my heart, They all return and here, at home, they meet. —Ninette M. Lowater.