The Path of Pain
E. A. H.
1912

"Ho! traveller. Prithee, answer me!
Say if at yonder bend there be
A narrow, tortuous, high-walled lane
That men have called the Path of Pain?'

The ancient traveller raised his head;
"A narrow pathway, sir?" he said,
"High-walled and gloomy, wet with rain

Of bitter tears a Path of Pain?

"Ask not the way of me, good youth
Ask thine own heart and hear the truth!
Bend low thine ear is it not plain
Where now thou'lt find thy Path of Pain?

"Look down and pity; lend thine aid.
For thine own self be not afraid ;
And seek no more a half-hid lane
Life's highway is the Path of Pain."