We are set upon a road
And that road is mankind
It is dangerous
It is loathsome
It is beautiful
Perhaps you have seen its path
In paintings most stunning
In the pirouette of night
In the openhanded gesture
Or glanced in the sleeping child
We are set upon this road
And that road is mankind
Try as we might
We cannot take another
It is this one we’ve been granted
This one we’ve oft smiled upon
This is the path of our founding
We may decorate it with laughter
And desecrate it, sully it, with dread
But we may not absolve its occasion
When wars conjure the spirit’s bed
We are set upon this road
And that road is mankind
A shower of stars cannot tap it
The impoverishment of man's good
May slim chance alter living’s course
It is this chance, this aperture
Of which we must seize, grasp of
Shilly-shallying of this anointed gift
Would be man’s greatest sin
Grasp and hold dear friends
Take hold of this and begin again
