Poems that touch my heart whenever I read them……

The Road Not Taken.

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 was always  fascinated by Frost's poetry. The way he brings nature into his poems is unique. There are forests, there is snow, there are rivers and rivulets, mountains, birch trees and swings, skies and earth. There is a strong smell of earth in his poems and it runs like a smooth undercurrent in most of his poems. I don't remember, but i think he is the forerunner of romantic poets. 

And the poem above is a pleasure to the soul. It kind of  reminds us about the fact that we are stuck to our comfort zones. We do not want to tread any path that is deviating from the one which we are used to. But what wonderful, bejeweled, extraordinary things lay on the other side, we never get to know. Life is not what we get to see in an angled sight. When we get to see only a part of the whole picture we act accordingly. In order to get the whole picture we have to come out of our comfort zones. There may be anything there - good or bad but atleast we are alive to whats happening1 We are not moving like zombies in life. In fact i remember how "Vaddera Chandidas" talks about "Asthitvam". It is simple to feel the pulse of life flowing through us. We are so preoccupied with the routines that we forget to smile from within. 

The road not taken can be as simple as loving oneself for what he or she is. It can be as simple as counting our blessings..which often go unnoticed. It can be as simple as looking at the smile on an infants face and feel the divinity flowing......

There is an element of rich abandon in this poem. I am not stuck by peer culture...I am not influenced by the mundane norms of society...I choose to take the other path which is promising because it is untrodden. The grass there has not formed into a path. It is wild filled with unknown adventure and enigma.... 

 "Then took the other, as just as fair,
  And having perhaps the better claim,
  Because it was grassy and wanted wear..."

 What a way to travel? What a way to live life. At least the audacious (if i may say so, because anything beyond normal looks audacious to normal people) fragrance of freedom inherent in the poem is a challenge to all of us. 

Probably people who are successful in life are treading these roads not taken by others. Life flows like a river. They are reaching out the horizons. They are happy within themselves...with themselves.They are celebrating every moment of their lives....

Lets celebrate every moment too!  Appreciating and being thankful to everything that life is bestowing us with. I now choose this path, to count my blessings and thank the universe for providing with such a beautiful life ....the road not taken or rather the road forgotten....


Every poem gives out different meanings to the readers. What do you think about this poem?