The Road Not Taken

July 3, 2012 by Carmen 2 Comments

The Road Not Taken

By Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

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I have always loved Robert Frost poetry, so full of nature references and as a middle school student, he was one of the few poets we read that I actually could understand and identify with.  I started reading his work after reading the ubiquitous “The Outsiders” with his poem Nothing Gold Can Stay. Like any good dreamy 12 year old girl, I had it memorized, and still think of his words as seasons change.  But living in a tropical place when seasonal changes are much more subtle, I’ve had my moments of truly missing those definitive changes that come with passing months.  Sometimes I think my brain and energies need a break of the warm, sunny, breezy mild climate and I need  autumn, winter and the downpours of spring to bring balance.  But then I realize we have taken a path less traveled.  Our family serves, we grow, we go where we are needed.  Should we have the privilege of remaining here for many more years I know it is because we have never taken the easier path, but always, by our choice or fate’s, been sent along the rocky ridge with no footpath in sight. 

I must remind myself of these things as I grow weary of the path.