The Road Not Taken

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.

                                                                               Robert Frost,  "The Road Not Taken,"  Birches

     This poem was within a collection of poems by Robert Frost that my parents gave me on Valentine's Day, 1977.   Valentine's Day gifts were not the norm.  So, Robert Frost is memorable.
     "The Road Not Taken" has inspired me since my first reading.  Yet, I could not achieve it in my own life.  At least, not to my satisfaction by my imposition of time.
     I tried to superimpose--to force--Robert Frost's words into my own life.   It seemed a worthy goal to undertake.  The undergrowth that surrounded Bassetts Creek, the wooded yards that were the foundation of my Vale Crest Road home, made it seem a sure to be achieved in short order.  Parents, who stood up for their contrarian beliefs, made "The Road Not Taken" all the easier--all the more fulfilling to pursue.
     Thirty years have passed since that first reading.  It is only now that I am beginning to understand that a poetic life may not be forced.  I didn't know how to achieve it.  I wasn't sure where to travel.  I still don't know.  The difference?  Age has graced my life with instinct, patience, and trust of the first two.
    "The Road Not Taken" is an affirmation.  It is not a roadmap.   It is not a blessing conferred on any of us. It is an affirmation that we must proclaim in and for our own lives.  No one else may do it for us.