| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 286. The Old Road |
| | | By Jones Very |
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| THE ROAD is left that once was trod | |
| By man and heavy-laden beast; | |
| And new ways opened, iron-shod, | |
| That bind the land from west to east. | |
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| I asked of Him who all things knows | 5 |
| Why none who lived now passed that way: | |
| Where rose the dust the grass now grows? | |
| A still, low voice was heard to say,— | |
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| “Thou knowest not why I change the course | |
| Of him who travels: learn to go, | 10 |
| Obey the Spirit’s gentle force, | |
| Nor ask thou where the stream may flow. | |
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| “Man shall not walk in his own ways, | |
| For he is blind and cannot see; | |
| But let him trust, and lengthened days | 15 |
| Shall lead his feet to heaven and Me. | |
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| Then shall the grass the path grow o’er, | |
| That his own wilfulness has trod; | |
| And man nor beast shall pass it more, | |
| But he shall walk with Me, his God.” | 20 |
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