The hidden path

I took to the woods on an autumn day,
For a land I’d heard of long ago;
A hidden place that time had lost,
And a name I did not know.

I’d heard it told, in tales before,
That a dream may yet be free
If one could leave that which was known,
And the past he longed to see.

So on my own I traveled forth,
In search for this hidden land.
With a song that day to carry on,
But no verse for days ahead.

There gold shone through the leafy sky,
Where it danced upon the stream,
And every tree that I passed by
It’s own true spirit did seem.

The stream beside me would endless on,
Like a dream that cannot say
Yet where it ends, for ever changing
Is the river in its way.

~~~

Far before me the road led on,
But another turned away.
I looked from one unto the next,
But which was mine, I could not say.

Burning gold was before me set,
And autumn boughs in flames of red;
But ‘side the water the other ran,
To follow where the river led.

And one, I knew could lead to right,
While the other would deceive –
For beauty is not always fair,
Though our hearts will it receive.

Ever changing as autumn leaves
As they fall to be reborn,
Or ever changing as the stream?
Of both ends I wished to learn,  

For one may lead me to my dreams,
Or to where my past still lives,
Or yet into a world unknown
With hidden knowledge there to give.

~~~

Once more I looked, and there I saw
A road between the two –
A narrow path, and overgrown
By branches, hid from view.

This way I knew that I must go,
Though lost it was for long before,
For there it opened, for me to pass –
The gate on an unlocked door.

And here I’ve found, yet some years hence
The place led to by dreams.
The path I chose has taught me now
Not all is as it seems:

Beauty is not always fair,
And for it our hearts have strayed,
While before us were our true paths
Hidden, like our dreams were laid.

Clear roads I saw before me then,
As I took to the woods one autumn day,
But neither one could be my own;
The heart must choose the journey's way.