A CROSS the places deep and dim,
And places brown and bare,
It reaches to the planet's rim—
The Road to Anywhere.

Now east is east, and west is west,
But north lies in between,
And he is blest whose feet have pressed
The road that's cool and green.

The road of roads for them that dare
The lightest whim obey,
To follow where the moose or bear
Has brushed his headlong way.

The secrets that these tangles house
Are step by step revealed,
While, to the sun, the grass and boughs
A store of odors yield.

More sweet these odors in the sun
Than swim in chemists' jars;
And when the fragrant day is done,
Night—and a shoal of stars.

Oh, east is east, and west is west,
But north lies full and fair;
And blest is he who follows free
The Road to Anywhere.