THE COMMON ROAD

 

          THE COMMON ROAD

            “The Common Road” is one of the inspirational poems written by the American poet Silas H. Perkins (1832-1911). It begins with the lines:

                        I want to travel, the common road

                        With the great crowd surging by.

                        Where there’s many a laugh and many a load,

And many a smile and sigh.        

            This  is not a reference to a desolate road where one finds  a small number of elites walking alone, on a quiet ‘sheltered way.”  The poet’s choice is different. He wants to be” thrilled and stirred by the road where he comes across  a large  crowd  of common people.”

               It is obvious from the above-mentioned lines that the poet is a man of  the masses who face all sorts of problems in their life’s journey.  He wants to be with them as a helpful co-traveller.

 Shouldn’t all of us be like him and live a socially useful life.  

             Here are the concluding but very inspirational lines of the poem:

 

I want to laugh with the common man
Wherever he chance to be,
I want to aid him when I can
Whenever there's need of me.
I want to lend a helping hand
Over the rough and steep
To a child too young to understand—
To comfort those who weep.
I want to live and work and plan
With the great crowd surging by,
To mingle with the common man,
No better or worse than I.

                                                *****

G.R.Kanwal

18 May 2025