324. Mine Host by John McCrae
J McCrae read by Classic Poetry Aloud:\nhttp://www.classicpoetryaloud.com/\n\nGiving voice to the poetry of the past.\n\n---------------------------------------------\n\nMine Host\nby John McCrae (1872 \u2013 1918)\n\nThere stands a hostel by a travelled way;\n Life is the road and Death the worthy host;\nEach guest he greets, nor ever lacks to say,\n "How have ye fared?" They answer him, the most,\n"This lodging place is other than we sought;\n We had intended farther, but the gloom\nCame on apace, and found us ere we thought:\n Yet will we lodge. Thou hast abundant room."\nWithin sit haggard men that speak no word,\n No fire gleams their cheerful welcome shed;\nNo voice of fellowship or strife is heard\n But silence of a multitude of dead.\n"Naught can I offer ye," quoth Death, "but rest!"\nAnd to his chamber leads each tired guest.\n\n\nFirst aired: 18 August 2008\n\nFor hundreds more poetry readings, visit the Classic Poetry Aloud index.\n\nReading \xa9 Classic Poetry Aloud 2008