An Obstacle
I was climbing up a mountain path
With many things to do,
Important business of my own
And other people’s too,
When I ran against a Prejudice
That quite cut off the view.
My work was such as could not wait,
My path quite clearly showed,
My strength and time were limited,
I carried quite a load;
And there that hulking Prejudice
Sat all across the road.
I spoke to him politely,
For he was huge and high,
And begged that he would move a bit
And let me travel by.
He smiled, but as for moving!.....
He did not even try.
And then I reasoned quietly
With that colossal mule:
My time was short – no other path –
The mountain winds were cool.
I argued like a Solomon;
He sat there like a fool.
Then I flew into a passion,
I danced and howled and swore.
I pelted and belaboured him
Till I was stiff and sore;
He got as mad as I did ---
But he sat there as before.
And then I begged him on my knees;
I might be kneeling still
If so I hoped to move that man
Of obdurate ill-will ---
As well invite the monument
To vacate Bunker Hill.
So I sat before him helpless,
In an ecstasy of woe ---
The mountain mists were rising fast,
The Sun was sinking slow ---
When a sudden inspiration came,
As sudden winds do blow.
I took my hat I took my stick,
My load I settled fair,
I approached that awful incubus
With an absent-minded air ---
And I walked directly through him,
As if he wasn’t there.
Charlotte Perkins Stetson
