Poem: “Duty’s Path” by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Poems of Sentiment

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American Literature – American Poetry – Ella Wheeler Wilcox – Poems by Ella Wheeler Wilcox – Poems of Sentiment
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Duty’s Path

Out from the harbour of youth’s bay
   There leads the path of pleasure;
With eager steps we walk that way
   To brim joy’s largest measure.
But when with morn’s departing beam
   Goes youth’s last precious minute,
We sigh “’Twas but a fevered dream—
   There’s nothing in it.”

Then on our vision dawns afar
   The goal of glory, gleaming
Like some great radiant solar star,
   And sets us longing, dreaming.
Forgetting all things left behind,
   We strain each nerve to win it,
But when ’tis ours—alas! we find
   There’s nothing in it.

We turn our sad, reluctant gaze
   Upon the path of duty;
Its barren, uninviting ways
   Are void of bloom and beauty.
Yet in that road, though dark and cold,
   It seems as we begin it,
As we press on—lo! we behold
   There’s Heaven in it.

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American Literature – American Poetry – Ella Wheeler Wilcox – Poems by Ella Wheeler Wilcox – Poems of Sentiment

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Poems of Sentiment

Duty’s Path

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