The map to journey's end

 

Spread out the map!  A heaven-bent journey, full of hopes and fears

An end not feared, but not yet longed for rest.

Good paths, and cheery inns and river banks where flowing streams

Brought times of sleepy dreams and sunny somnolence .

But look there! and see the ways where mud and steep incline

Made hard the daily portion of the walk.

And miles whose memory I strive to bury in a dark forgotten wood,

And if remembered, just as soon forgot.

Such travelling!  A common end with those whose goal's the same,

A journey, though, where just the end counts not...

But every step is gift and grace and held in love for He

In whom the path begins, and one day reaches home.

JRS