The Roads I've Taken

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.

I have always loved this poem by Robert Frost, but yesterday as I was driving home on the fresh snow-covered roads, it began to take on a new meaning for me. Since my journey home takes me onto country roads, many of the streets I had to drive on were untreated by road crews. As I drove cautiously, trying to predict whether or not certain roads would be safe to traverse, my mind began to wander.

Each road that I came to had tire tracks on it from previously passing vehicles. Most of the time, I was able to surmise whether the road was slippery or not by the tire tracks in front of me. I found that if the road was slippery, the tracks weaved back and forth across the road. If the road was not too bad, the tracks maintained a steady gait.

All of the sudden, I was extremely grateful for those who had traveled the same path before me. Even though I could not see them, they were having an effect on me.

I began to think about all of the times in my life that I was called to travel down an unknown path. At the time, I wondered why I was constantly being called on to do things that seemed before my time.

However, I am discovering that though I could not see it while I was making my journey down an untrodden path, my obedience to taking the less traveled road probably affected some who traveled the same road after me. Just as the tire tracks on the road in front of me last night gave me assurance that the road was safe to travel, maybe the tracks that I leave upon a certain path will give someone the assurance to make the journey as well.