Lovely woods…

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep.
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

From Robert Frost’s Stopping by woods on a Snowy Evening

This favorite poem came to mind as soon as I saw the above image in my camera. But the thoughts that followed involve the only other Frost poem that I know (and love)…

From the Road not Taken…

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.

It is way too easy to dwell on the notion that if only you’d chosen that other path then everything would have been perfect. The assumption that if one choice hasn’t been perfect, then the other choice would have been perfect. It took me longer than it should have to figure out that I was still looking for happily ever after even at this late date. And when you look at the lead up to the words we all remember, that he would be telling this in ages and ages hence, perhaps it has always been tempting to look back on your life to look for places where a different choice might have made a difference. I wonder what life might have been like had I not left home at such a young age. I’ve never felt connected to any of the places I’ve lived, and never fail to have that feeling of being home when I’m back in Massachusetts. But there isn’t any point in wondering such things. That ship has sailed.

I need to think of a saying that is framed on the wall at my daughter’s house…