“As I can’t leap from cloud to cloud, I want to wander from road to road. That little path there by the clipped hedge goes up to the high road. I want to go up that path and to walk along the high road, and so on and on and on, and to know all kinds of people. Did you ever think that the roads are the only things that are endless; that one can walk on and on, and never be stopped by a gate or a wall? They are the serpent of eternity. I wonder they have never been worshipped. What are the stars beside them? They never meet one another. The roads are the only things that are infinite. They are all endless.”
From the play Where There Is Nothing by WB Yeats
“Remember what Bilbo used to say: It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to”. He probably thought this up himself, but I can’t help wondering now if Tolkien got the idea from WBY?
When I was a kid I found a cul-de-sac in the town I lived in. And in my naivety I believed that that was the one ot two end stations in the whole wide world.
‘one of two’ is what I meant
I love this! Ahh but then I love the road. I’ve always wondered at people who fear “getting lost”. Roads can be trusted to take us back too. If we want them to. Can’t say I often do, though!
And Duncan…I’ve always thought cul-de-sacs were sorta sad. The ultimate road to nowhere.
Yes, dangerous, Dominic. And exhilarating!
That’s quite poignant, Duncan … and Karin: a woman after my own heart! “Getting lost is our best defence against being lost.”