The Road

by Dana Gioia

 

He sometimes felt that he had missed his life

By being far too busy looking for it.

Searching the distance, he often turned to find

That he had passed some milestone unaware,

And someone else was walking next to him,

First friends, then lovers, now children and a wife.

They were good company—generous, kind,

But equally bewildered to be there.

 

He noticed then that no one chose the way—

All seemed to drift by some collective will.

The path grew easier with each passing day,

Since it was worn and mostly sloped downhill.

The road ahead seemed hazy in the gloom.

Where was it he had meant to go, and with whom?

__________

DANA GIOIA has published six books of poetry and five volumes of literary criticism, as well as opera libretti, song cycles, translations, and over two dozen literary anthologies.