Don’t know where it is I’m going;
Not sure I really care.
Can’t trace back all the paths I took;
My shoes in disrepair.
Oh, take me there, just take me, please.
It’s been so many days.
I haven’t seen my countrymen
nor heard their music play.
I crossed a bridge a mile back,
What river couldn’t say,
And saw a sign for Heaven.
Perhaps you know the way?
Oh, take me there, just take me, please.
It’s been so many days.
I haven’t seen my countrymen
nor heard their music play.
Ballad* by Paul Guernsey Player, © 2018/07/19
in response to New roads by Lize Bard @Haiku Out Of Africa
*ballad – [quora.com] A ballad is a long poem in short stanzas that tells a story. They can be humorous, romantic, or adventurous. They usually have a simple rhyme scheme, like couplets or abcb. In the English tradition, they are four line stanzas with alternating 4 and 3 beat lines … and can be set to music. – Holly Harwood [origin: The ballad derives its name from medieval French dance songs or “ballares”, from which ‘ballet’ is also derived (L: ballare, to dance) – Harvard Dictionary of Music (Harvard, 1944; 2nd edn., 1972), p. 70. ]
Ballads were originally written to accompany dances, and so were composed in couplets with refrains in alternate lines. These refrains would have been sung by the dancers in time with the dance. [“Popular Ballads”, The Broadview Anthology of British Literature: The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century, p. 610. ] – Wikipedia.org
TheGuern 
Thanks for attaching the explanation of ballad too. Great post!
Funny, my wife [and midnight editor] strongly suggested I leave out the explanation of ballad, saying that it detracted from the poem. I am glad I left it in and that you appreciated it. I’ve had a fuzzy understanding of the word and figured I was likely not alone. I did edit the footnote from the version my “editor” had such a problem with, but now I think I will add back at least the word’s origin. Knowing its roots in dance is helpful, I think.
I agree. I just didn’t know that stuff. Thanks!