Help with words please.

[dogfish30]

Hi. I just found this site, and I'm hoping I can get some help here. There is a poem on my wife's fathers headstone, and she's been trying to get all of the words to it. It was found in his pocket when he died, so it must have meant alot to him. His grave is very far away so we can't go see it very easily. We have an old picture of the headstone, but it's hard to read. Here it is:

A thousand roadways lead to Rome, but love has only one
The little trail that ???????? to home beneath the setting sun
A thousand stars light up the skys love has a single flame
The glow that kindles in the eyes at mention of a name
A thousand flowers fill the earth love has a pedal scent
The tiny rose whose magic birth gives man God's sacrament

This is what we can kind of see in the photo. If anybody knows this poem, could you please let me know if the words we have are right, what the missing word is, and who wrote it? Thank you so much...Bill

[quasimodo1]

To dogfish30: I'm out of town right now and don't have my usual resources available. Basically, one way to proceed is to find a poetry site which has an "index of first lines" and if this site has a decent database you might find it easily. Other methods take more time and are not always successful. The more text you have, ovviously, the better. quasi

[dogfish30]

Thanks for the reply quasimodo1. I've tried several search engines, and for the life of me I can't find anything close. Can you recommend a site? Thanks, Bill

[Niamh]

I've had a look around the web for you but no luck i'm afraid. Could it be possible that he may have written it himself? Was the piece of paper found in his pocket hand written?

[dogfish30]

Thanks for your help Niamh. My wife just told me that she's 95% sure that it was cut out of a newspaper. I'm wondering if one of the writers for the paper wrote it, and never published it. Anyway, thanks again....Bill

[Niamh]

humm... only thing i can suggest is maybe check back on some of the local papers from before he died and see what you can find. Or you could write letters to them with a copy of the verse inside explaining what happened and why you are looking for the source. they maybe able to help, especially if one of them wrote it. Or publish an article in a paper asking people if they know it?