The House by the Side of the Road

This poem has as its keynote friendship and sympathy for other people. It is a paradox of life that by hoarding love and happiness we lose them, and that only by giving them away can we keep them for ourselves. The more we share, the more we possess. We of course find in other people weaknesses and sins, but our best means of curing these are through a wise and sympathetic understanding.

  Let me live in a house by the side of the road,

    Where the race of men go by

  The men who are good and the men who are bad,

    As good and as bad as I.

  I would not sit in the scorner's seat,

    Or hurl the cynic's ban;

  Let me live in a house by the side of the road

    And be a friend to man.

  I see from my house by the side of the road,

    By the side of the highway of life,

  The men who press with the ardor of hope,

    The men who are faint with the strife.

  But I turn not away from their smiles nor their tears

    Both parts of an infinite plan;

  Let me live in my house by the side of the road

    And be a friend to man.

  I know there are brook-gladdened meadows ahead

    And mountains of wearisome height;

  And the road passes on through the long afternoon

    And stretches away to the night.

  But still I rejoice when the travelers rejoice,

    And weep with the strangers that moan,

  Nor live in my house by the side of the road

    Like a man who dwells alone.

  Let me live in my house by the side of the road

    Where the race of men go by

  They are good, they are bad, they are weak, they are strong,

    Wise, foolish--so am I.

  Then why should I sit in the scorner's seat

    Or hurl the cynic's ban?

  Let me live in my house by the side of the road

    And be a friend to man.

                                                             by Sam Walter Foss

                                                             From "Dreams in Homespun."