20 ROOFS

The ro ad is wide, and the stars are out, and the breath of the night is sweet,

And this is the time when wanderlust should seize upon my feet.

But I’m glad to turn from the open road and the starlight on my face,

And to leave the splendor of out-of-doors for a human dwelling place.

I never have seen a vagabond who really liked to roam

All up and down the streets of the world and not to have a home;

The tramp who slept in your barn last night and left at break of day

Will wander only until he finds another place to stay.

A gypsy-man will sleep in his cart with canvas overhead,

Or else he’ll go into his tent when it is time for bed.

He’ll sit on the grass and take his ease so long as the sun is high,

But when it is dark, he wants a roof to keep away the sky.

If you call a gypsy a vagabond, I think you do him wrong,

For he never goes a-traveling but he takes his home along.

And the only reason a road is good, as every wanderer knows,

Is just because of the homes, the homes, the homes to which it goes.

They say that life is a highway and its milestones are the years,

And no w and then there’s a tollgate where you buy your way with tears.

It’s a rough road and a steep road, and it stretches broad and far,

But at last it leads to a Golden Town where Golden Houses are.

( Joyce Kilmer )

Biography

Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918), an American poet, was born in New Brunswick, N. J., and educated at Rutgers College and Columbia University. He was a member of the staff of the New York Times, and editor of poetry for The Literary Digest. Deeply moved by Germany’s challenge to humanity, he enlisted seventeen days after the United States declared war, and was killed, in the battle of the Marne. Though he died so young, he had written many beautiful poems. Among his published works are: Trees and Other Poems, Literature in the Making, and Main Street and Other Poems, from which “Roofs” is taken.

Word list

wanderlust : wanting to travel and explore

vagabond : someone who is wandering and homeless

milestone : an important place one arrives at

tollgate : a place one must pay to continue on the road

You Practice

Answer the following questions.

1) What preference for home does the poet express?

2) Why does the poet not think the gypsy is a vagabond?

3) What is the only reason a road is good?

4) What is the comparison in the last stanza?

5) What would be other possible titles for this poem?