A Sigh for The Road Not Taken

I couldn't let April pass without recognizing National Poetry Month and how better to do that than with my favorite poem by one of my favorite poets.

Robert Frost was an American poet for the ordinary American.  His poetry has a deceptive simplicity that makes it remarkably accessible to all. 

Frost's verse has always inspired something within me, which brings us to The Road Not Taken.  I believe this poem became a favorite the moment I first read it, but the fact it changes in meaning with every passing year is easily what charms me the most. As I mature and evolve, so does the complexity of each stanza and not only do I begin to see new things down that grassy path, but I begin to discern more things about that lone traveler and the time spent at that crossroad.

I love losing myself in the words of this poem.  On a sunny day with a warm breeze, I read and re-read the words of this poem, then close my eyes and imagine... I don't know about you, but I call that pretty perfect poetry. 

The traveler's sigh in the final stanza is often debated. Does the traveler regret his life or is the sigh filled with contentment as he simply looks back to an earlier time? My opinion?  It's purely subjective. Our lives naturally ebb and flow like the tide.  Isn't it only natural that our own interpretations and revelations about what we see and read would also ebb and flow? 

I think of this poem often. Like Frost's traveler, I've always been one to take the road less traveled. It hasn't always made for a particularly easy life, but I will agree that it has truly "made all the difference".  And many times, I've marked a path for another day, knowing all the while that I may never have a chance to return.  After all, way really does lead on to way. 

So today, in honor of National Poetry Month, I found this wonderful link with Robert Frost reading The Road Not Taken.  It's mesmerizing to hear the words of the poem spoken in the poet's own voice.  

I think now I'll hit play, close my eyes, take a deep breath, and sigh...

Enjoy!

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 marked 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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And just because I like to close with a smile, 

I present my favorite Gary Larson, "Far Side" cartoon.  

A copy of this cartoon has been pinned above my desk for several years

 - for obvious reasons.