Two roads diverged in a wood and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
I often wonder if these three lines aren’t taken out of context and misquoted to glamorise adventure travel and to romanticise taking a different life/career path. Any path that many are afraid of taking or haven’t taken is worth taking. Is that really it?
Perhaps it doesn’t really matter which path you take; what you make of it and how you tell your story is what matters. Perspective is it.
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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