(.................14sept4) Parable

A stern figure blocked my way, said, 'Not this path.' I went back to my old rounds, pick and shovel in the fields another year. The hopeless, invisible burden remained on my shoulders. I stole away again and returned to the path. Again the stern figure. Again I went back and picked up my tools. Another year of dim purgatory, a gray time with no prospect of sun. Again I took leave and walked to the path. The stern figure admonished yet again, but my feet would not go back to the fields of the hopeless, and I kept walking along the unknown path.