When we visit our lovely 103 year old friend, we ofter talk about and read poems. Last time we were there we were both trying to remember this poem by Robert Frost…. We talked about the different lives we might have had, had we taken different paths and about the many choices there had been in a life of over 100 years.
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.
So here it is for Ti – and for you Dear Readers. What different paths might you have taken?
nrhatch
December 19, 2022 at 2:31 pm
I just read some thoughts & comments on your dad’s book, The Fate of Jeremy Visick, including this: “A charming, but scary story of a boy who is reluctantly drawn into the life of another boy … from another time.”
Maybe your dad liked imagining (and writing about) the taking of a different path . . . as a different person? 😀
I liked reading A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (the time travel elements) and also enjoyed The Prince and the Pauper (stepping into someone else’s life for a time to experience a different time and place). The Fate of Jeremy Visick sounds great for both those reasons.
I still enjoy reading historical fiction (and some non-fiction) for its ability to transport readers from HERE to THERE.
As for me, paths diverged several times. In college, I spent Spring Break in St. Thomas my senior year and almost stayed there, instead of returning to W&M to finish my degree. After law school, I considered applying for a judicial clerkship with the federal court in St. Thomas, but instead stayed in the states with BFF. I’m sure those decisions changed my life trajectory in ways I can only imagine.
These days, I don’t spend much time wondering what life would have been like if I’d chosen “the other path” because . . . I’m not on that path. 😀
“We are HERE and it is NOW . . . what else is there?” ~ Kobi Yamada
Thanks for a provocative post to get my little gray cells working this morning. And thanks for the brief introduction to your dad’s body of work.
mybeautfulthings
December 21, 2022 at 11:26 am
Lovely to read all this. Jeremy was Dad’s first book and was written in 11 days and first published in America where it became the special choice of Librarians who said it was one of those books that every child should read.
I like that Kobi Yamada quotation as I, too, don’t believe in harking back to the past but sometimes, just wondering where a path might have taken you….. When I was 20, applying for jobs as I left teacher training, a friend of my parents who lived in Boston, offered to sponsor me for a year at Brandeis University. I applied but before hearing anything had met my lovely Mr S and my whole focus changed! One of my brothers and my sister went to the US in their 20’s and never came home so if I had gone along that path, how different my life might have been! Different but not better! Much love to you for a Happy Christmas and a peaceful 2023. 🙂
Southern Patches
December 19, 2022 at 10:38 am
This is one of my favorite poems. It’s funny I didn’t even think about it but my husband and I were talking just last night about different things and different paths that could have been taken. Very timely to have read this. Thank you for sharing.
Vanessa Carpenter
December 18, 2022 at 9:02 pm
Always loved this poem👍xx
mybeautfulthings
December 21, 2022 at 11:18 am
It’s one of those that stay in your head isn’t it? 🙂
Kim Ridgeon
December 18, 2022 at 8:16 pm
A favourite.