NO THOROUGHFARE
Are there detours for getting by,
And yet transgress, in low or high?
Note you the highway's hopeful throng
Seeking such means the whole day long,
Their power to visualize long lost,
By just such search, at just such cost?
Would they, think you, endure the goad,
Did they but know there's no such road?
RESPONSIBILITY
Think you this be your first time here
To reap and sow in gloom or cheer
That what you are is what you are
Through some past blundering of a star,
Or hap some elemental sprite,
Unschooled, unknowing wrong from right:
That you, yourself, have had no part
In what you are in mind and heart?
JUDGMENT
Why must the dying man review
Each detail of the life he knew,
While old familiar scenes recall
Past thoughts and deeds, however small?
Must he see more than merely these,
The warp and woof that plague or please?
Does he link cause with its effect,
And so know just what to expect
While weighing all these things of his
With Truth and Justice witnesses?