'Tis the Set of the Sail: Ella Wheeler

‘Tis the Set of the Sail
Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1916

But to every mind there openeth,

A way, and a way, and away.

A high soul climbs the highway,                                                          

And the low soul gropes the low,

And in between on the misty flats,

The rest drift to and fro.

 

But to every man there openeth,

A high way and low,

And every mid decideth,

The way his soul shall go.

 

One ship sails East,

And another West,

By the self-same winds that blow,

‘Tis the set of the sails

And no the gales,

That tells the way we go.

Like the winds of the sea

Are the waves of time,

As we journey along through life,

‘Tis the set of the soul,

That determines the goal,

And not the calm or the strife.