Sam Walter Foss

There are hermit souls that live withdrawn
In the place of their self-content;
There are souls like read more

There are hermit souls that live withdrawn
In the place of their self-content;
There are souls like stars that dwell apart,
In a fellowless firmament;
There are pioneer souls that blaze their paths
Where highways never ran,--
But let me live by the side of the road,
And be a friend to man.

Seek not for fresher founts afar,
Just drop your bucket where you are;
And while the ship read more

Seek not for fresher founts afar,
Just drop your bucket where you are;
And while the ship right onward leaps,
Uplift it from the exhaustless deeps.
Parch not your life with dry despair;
The stream of hope flow everywhere--
So under every sky and star,
Just drop your bucket where you are.

Let me live in my house by the side of the road,
Where the race of men go by;
read more

Let me live in my house by the side of the road,
Where the race of men go by;
They are good, they are bad; they are weak, they are strong,
Wise, foolish,--so am I;
Then why should I sit in the scorner's seat,
Or hurl the cynic's ban?
Let me live in my house by the side of the road,
And be a friend to man.

A hundred thousand men were led
By one calf near three centuries dead;
They followed still his read more

A hundred thousand men were led
By one calf near three centuries dead;
They followed still his crooked way
And lost a hundred years a day;
For thus such reverence is lent
To well established precedent.

"Oh, ship ahoy!" rang out the cry;
"Oh, give us water or we die!"
A voice came read more

"Oh, ship ahoy!" rang out the cry;
"Oh, give us water or we die!"
A voice came o'er the waters far,
"Just drop your bucket where you are."
And then they dipped and drank their fill
Of water fresh from mead and hill;
And then they knew they sailed upon
The broad mouth of the Amazon.