NOWHERE PATH

 

          NOWHERE PATH

            Lovers of nature like to visit natural places about which they have no previous knowledge. The spring season is particularly fascinating for them. They just leave their homes and take a pathway that leads to nowhere. It satisfies their curiosity about infinite beauty nature.

             The American poet, writer and lecturer Corinne Roosevelt Robinson (1861-1933) has written a poem titled The Path That Leads To Nowhere.  She was the younger sister of President of the United States.

            According to a critic her poem “depicts a solitary path leading to an idyllic natural setting marked by a flowing river, willows, birches, and violets. The absence of a clear destination or purpose sets this path apart from others that lead to specific places.”     

            While going through this poem I was reminded of the following quote of the English poet John Keats (1795-1821):

            “Heard melodies are sweet but those unheard are sweeter.”

            Corinne Roosevelt Robinson concludes her poem with the following spiritually philosophic  words:

            On the path that leads to Nowhere

            I have sometimes found my soul.

 

Given below are some lines from the poem:

 

“Other pathways lead to Somewhere,

But the one I love so well

Had no end and no beginning—

Just the beauty of the dell,

Just the windflowers and the lilies,

Yellow striped as adder’s tongue,

Seem to satisfy my pathway

As it winds their sweets amomg.

 

….All the ways that  lead to Somewhere

Echo with the hurrying feet

Of the Struggling and the Striving,

But the way I find so sweet

Bids me dream and bids me linger—

Joy and Beauty are its goal.

                                                            *********

G.R.Kanwal

22 May 20251