the long road.

the long road curled snakewise toward the shadowy hills, groping like a rubbery arm
(except that you couldn't see any hand or fingers or what they fumbled for in perhaps some valley)
so that you had to make up your mind before you started out to travel,
that you were going to follow it to the end,
not knowing if there was an end,
or if the fingers held anything precious,
or whether everything maybe just stopped in midair
(like the road just ended, and there was nothing at the end of it).
it was a chance big enough to start on
(and anyhow you couldn't just stay where you were).

so you had to make up your mind at the very beginning
to follow it to the end.