Ella Wheeler Wilcox

The Universal Route

As we journey along, with a laugh and a song,
  We see, on youth’s flower-decked slope,
Like a beacon of light, shining fair on the sight,
  The beautiful Station of Hope.

But the wheels of old Time roll along as we climb,
  And our youth speeds away on the years;
And with hearts that are numb with life’s sorrows we come
  To the mist-covered Station of Tears.

Still onward we pass, where the milestones, alas!
  Are the tombs of our dead, to the West,
Where glitters and gleams, in the dying sunbeams,
  The sweet, silent Station of Rest.

All rest is but change, and no grave can estrange
  The soul from its Parent above;
And, scorning the rod, it soars back to its God,
  To the limitless City of Love.