Let Me Live in House By The Side of The Road by Sam Walter Foss

There are many reasons to give thanks, there are many sorrows and joys that we all carry with us. Sometimes the best we have to offer is the simplest sort of kindnesses. For all of you and everything you add to my life, I thank you.

The poem below is an old one (1897 I believe) and a favorite of mine. It is everything that I hope to be in this world. And everything that my parents have been for many, many years. And for that too, I give thanks.

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"He was a friend to man, and lived

In a house by the side of the road."- Homer -

~

There are hermit souls that live withdrawn

In the place of their self-content;

There are souls like stars, that dwell apart,

In a fellowless firmament;

There are pioneer souls that blaze their paths

Where highways never ran-

But let me live by the side of the road

And be a friend to man. -

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 a 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;

That 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-

It's here 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. - -

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