I walked by the road
Of the forgotten men
Names I knew from old
But twisted by the pen
The truth came to meet me
By the broken gate on the road
I went down with it to see
What lies I had been told
On this journey underfoot
I knew not what waited for me
No hint of the underlying soot
Soiled pictures all around of beauty
We stopped to smell a rose
And admire the pretty pair
Of birds that took their repose
All through the golden air
I thought this road unjustified
In the dread it always rose
In all those I heard had tried
To give the trip a few goes
But they recoiled with grimaces
Even those of success said, 'Unjustified
Was the need to walk through these places
Old was dead for a reason,' they shivered and sighed
All the pleasant things retired
Just within our reach
I wonder who could have sired
Rumors of the lessons this road did teach
Filled with the sad and bittersweet
Of life and youth retired
Haunted by the ghostly feet
Late in the evening hired
I saw no signs of the decay
So famously named bittersweet
Just then I began to say
'How gentle, not a horror to meet'
Then my companion did grow pale
And whisper, 'Say that not
Your heart still has time to fail
Your soul still time to rot'
Then I saw a great rhododendron
Shining in moonlight suddenly pale
And I saw that died had the sun
All its glory left to silently wail
For its worshipers were stripped
On reaching the rhododendron
And walking on tight-lipped
They had not the strength to run
I finally became aware
Of the truth of the warnings
And fully understood to care
The fleeting nature of mornings
For when the dusk does come
Of all failings you are made aware
Regrets can never keep you from
The cold terror of wrong laid bare
Your shield will be your honor
When the chilling last days come
Truth will be your caller
She will strike you dumb
There is no defense for the educated
Intellect will not be their savior
On their pleasures they were sated
They called their soul a liar
But when they reach the road
That takes even the educated
They find the burden of the load
A soul is to every person fated
The lesson remained as fast I ran
All along to escape the road
The road of a dead man
Whose soul he had sold
