Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ILLUSION, by ETHELYN HARDESTY CLEAVER


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ILLUSION, by                    
First Line: We are but travelers treading o'er a path
Last Line: And makes life more worth living!
Subject(s): Future; Hallucinations & Illusions; Life


We are but travelers treading o'er a path
Which weary pilgrims oft have trod before
And many yet unborn will tread again.
Yet on we go with joy, as if 'twere new.
Though strewn ofttimes with thorns that pierce our feet,
And roses bloom but rarely on the way,
We still must e'er traverse it and we do,
Remembering not the sharpness of the thorns
One half so much as the roses' sweet perfume,
Their charm and loveliness. And well it is
That memory treasures most and most retains
The things that give us pleasure; for by them
The path is brightened by a roseate glow
That doth illumine all the days of yore.

Sometimes the path's so narrow -- steep the way --
We most concentred are upon the new
And fear to retrospect or look beyond
Lest the distractions then should fatal prove.
But not for long; soon the hills divide;
A valley lies between, through which is caught
A vista of the scenes henceforth to come;
And through the haze, though dimly, we discern
The future -- bright with a resplendent sun,
Roses without a thorn, and life itself
One grand unending song. Foes are as naught
Compared with our superior strength and skill.
The world is ours, existing, as it seems,
To grant us power, to make us feel that we
Are conquerors, and e'en the world itself
May overcome. Victorious future days!

Such is our view. What though its color fade
And less resplendent prove as we approach,
If in the future it so lovely seem,
And in the past retaineth most its charm
And not its sting when claimed as memory's own.
Well may we thankful be, and e'er remain,
That in Pandora's box when 'scaped the ills
That should afflict the world forevermore,
One solace given was -- illusive ray --
That on this path we tread from birth to death,
Forever makes the future charming seem,
And aiding retrospection in her task,
Makes past become to us a source of joy.
Illusion was a gift which ne'er can be surpassed --
It stimulates the rare, enchanting talisman of Hope,
And makes Life more worth living!





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