It is the only road...

Believe not those who say
The upward path is smooth.
Lest thou shouldst stumble in the way.
And faint before the truth.

It is the only road
Unto the realms of joy:
But her who seeks that blest abode
Must all his pwers employ.

Anne Bronte

I found this poem on a bookmark within the pages of one of the books I recently dug out of the shed after we packed a lot of our possessions away when our extension was being built. It was in a book of poems owned once by my nanna, and now by my mum. They can be very religious in tone, but these poems are little gems that make me wish I had a deeper conviction that something wider out there exists than what an agnostic-cum-atheist believes. This poem does not exude a high-toned, preaching voice that tells us we are condemned to hell, but to get to heaven is not easy and we must strive with all our efforts to enter this "blest abode". The conviction of what must be done, the true belief expressed in this lone, short poem shows me how faith really did exist. It did for my nanna, it does in some manner for my mother and today? The next generation? Who knows...