Erode... Naught Taken, mused by Robert Frost Options

[JustDaniel]

Erode... Naught Taken

I have walked two roads as I’ve scribbled verse;
they converge as one in yon yellowed wood.
If I’d chosen the other, would I be the worse?
Have I looked down the one as far as I could?
I’d spent precious time in the undergrowth
of the wanderlust path, and I got nowhere,
so I reasoned I’d rhyme, taking something of both
to discover perchance what each sought to share.
Some traveler friends bid farewell as I strode,
but cautiously, marching a shadowy path
to somewhere or other past empty abodes —
encountered cold shoulders… occasional wrath.

passers-by poked fun
throughout a fallen winter;
still life sprang anew

two trails
diverged from woods
in pungent yellow streams;
so I set a new course through trees
relieved


© MLee Dickens’son 09 Feb 2006


a musing from Robert Frost's

The Road Not Taken

[Guest_Cathy_*]

Hi Daniel,

I've often wondered if my life would be different had I taken the other way! I'm not sure that I'd really want to know though...

I want to get a closer look before actually offering a critique but I did want to ask... why the last two verses? And why did you opt for no rhyme when the rest of the poem does? Is this a form I don't know about? LOL

Cat

I have walked two roads as I’ve scribbled verse;
they converge as one in yon yellowed wood.
If I’d chosen the other, would I be the worse?
Have I looked down the one as far as I could?
I’d spent precious time in the undergrowth
of the wanderlust path, and I got nowhere,
so I reasoned I’d rhyme, taking something of both
to discover perchance what each sought to share.
Some traveler friends bid farewell as I strode,
but cautiously, marching a shadowy path
to somewhere or other past empty abodes —
encountered cold shoulders… occasional wrath.

passers-by poked fun
throughout a fallen winter;
still life sprang anew

two trails
diverged from woods
in pungent yellow streams;
so I set a new course through trees
relieved

[jgdittier]

Hi Daniel,

I've often wondered if my life would be different had I taken the other way! I'm not sure that I'd really want to know though...

I want to get a closer look before actually offering a critique but I did want to ask... why the last two verses? And why did you opt for no rhyme when the rest of the poem does? Is this a form I don't know about? LOL

Cat

I have walked two roads as I’ve scribbled verse;
they converge as one in yon yellowed wood.
If I’d chosen the other, would I be the worse?
Have I looked down the one as far as I could?
I’d spent precious time in the undergrowth
of the wanderlust path, and I got nowhere,
so I reasoned I’d rhyme, taking something of both
to discover perchance what each sought to share.
Some traveler friends bid farewell as I strode,
but cautiously, marching a shadowy path
to somewhere or other past empty abodes —
encountered cold shoulders… occasional wrath.

passers-by poked fun
throughout a fallen winter;
still life sprang anew

two trails
diverged from woods
in pungent yellow streams;
so I set a new course through trees
relieved

Dear Daniel,
Ingenious title followed by tongue-in-cheek message delivered in your highly imaginatively way.
I believe Frost used yellow to suggest the leaves had turned and therefore it was a fall day.
You've used yellow somewhat differently so I can see easily why you set a new course.
I suppose one could figure "woods" to be poetry and two trails as being R&M and fv. Were that the case, wasted time in the wanderlust path would be...?
Cheers, Ron jgd

[JustDaniel]

Thanks for your astute visit, Ron...

The time on the wanderlust path was not 'wasted' but 'precious'... and yes, it has been my time in free verse... I've gotten nowhere, even though I've probably produced a few pretty decent pieces. I've kinda stopped worrying whether something is 'truly free verse' or not, and I've been writing some things that have a taste of both. Certainly that's what Frost did... at least in the several of his that I've read that aren't totally R&M.

deLighting in the journey, Daniel