Richard Watson Gilder (Ричард Уотсон Гилдер)
The New Day. Part 3. 29. The Unknown Way
Two travelers met upon a plain Where two straight, narrow pathways crossed; They met and, with a still surprise, They looked into each other's eyes And knew that never, O, never again! Could one from the other soul be lost. But lo! these narrow pathways lead Now each from each apart, and lo! In neither pathway can they go Together, in their new, strange need. Far-off the purple mountains loom,— Vague and far-off, and fixt as fate, Which hide from sight that land unknown Where, ever, like a carven stone The setting sun doth stand and wait, And men cry not: "Too late! too late!" And sorrow turns to a golden gloom. But O, the long journey all unled By track of traveler o'er the plain— The stony desert, bleak and rude, The bruisèd feet and the tired brain; And O, the twofold solitude, The doubt, the danger, and the dread!
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