The Road Not Taken

Now, this is not my poem. I am a very bad poet. And I don’t often enjoy reading them… but today, I was reminded of this one and it remains one of my favorites from High School. It’s “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost.

Try to read it out loud if you can - it sounds better than it reads.

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 occasionally find myself wondering if I’ve made the right choices in life…

Choosing to freelance and go abroad to live with Eyal instead of staying in the sanctuary of my own home, with the comfort of a steadily paying job and so on and so forth.

The more time I spend here in Finland visiting and working, the more I know I’ve chosen right. Of course I love my family here and I miss them when I am gone. But I simply am not happy in Finland - not with work or the climate, and not without Eyal. The place feels.. hollow, cold, and dark.

I don’t really have any close friends here. Sure, there are former classmates, best friends, etc, but I haven’t seen any of them in ages, and they have not looked me up either. I’ll try to invite them to my birthday party, which will be the first in about ten years… But I bet they’ll feel weird being invited to someone’s party they haven’t seen in years in some cases. It’ll be interesting to see who if anyone comes, and how awkward it’ll be. I’ll call it more of a ‘get-together’, since I have no idea how to host a party. Tips are appreciated.

But now I’m cycling off the subject. I think I’ve taken the road less taken… and so far, I am happier for it. I am curious to see how the view will change as I look back.