The Road Not Taken

This is my favorite poem, and it's been on my mind for some reason today.  I've loved this, and several other works by Robert Frost, since I was in middle school and introduced to them by Mr. Layton, the English teacher.  He was a wonderful teacher; one of those you never forget.  He had us diving into literature usually not studied until high school or college.  Watership Down, Animal Farm, 1984, R.U.R., and Lord of the Flies, to name a few.  When we spent some time on Robert Frost's poetry, for some reason I enjoyed his work more than any of the other poets we studied.  I hope you'll enjoy this poem as much as I do.

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.

                                                        -Robert Frost