Poems (Hoffman)/Going Down Hill

by Martha Lavinia Hoffman

GOING DOWN HILL

You may not travel very fast
 When first you've started down,
You may not stumble at the first
 And fall and break your crown,
You may find only flowery slopes
 So easy to descend;
But heed a warning voice, in time,
 "Tis not so at the end.

Steeper and steeper will become
 The dark defiles before,
Faster and faster grow your speed
 "Till you behold, no more,
The grassy slopes, the flowery glens,
 The first bright shallow rill
You crossed, with such a buoyant tread,
 When starting down the hill.

You may be half way down, if so,
 Just pause awhile and think,
'Twill be too late for thought, you know
 When quaking on the brink
Of the great, awful precipice,
 To which your footsteps tend,
You surely would retrace your steps
 Could you but see the end.

Though near the end, there may be hope
 And help and safety still,
Stop! learn where you are standing now
 On this great moral hill;
Ponder on all that's gained before
 And all that's lost behind,
Turn back, and purer, clearer air
 At each brave effort, find.

Help from a strong arm, reaching down
 From Heaven, in mercy ask;
Remember every step you climb,
 Easier grows your task.
Above you lie the flowery slopes
 And sunny, taintless air;
Below, oh, stagnant, poisonous sloughs
 And cruel rocks are there!

Yet though brave hearts may strive in time
 To warn you, if you will,
In spite of friends and Heaven and sense,
 You'll travel down the hill;
When mangled by your awful fall
 Into a dark abyss,
Remember that a friendly voice
 Warned you in time of this.