17 September 2010

Random Acts of Poetry - Where do you come from?

Glynn Young is hosting the next Random Acts of Poetry at The High Calling Blogs. This is what Glynn posted as a prompt:

"Select a poem you first read in high school or college that had an impact on you, that you remember or that you enjoyed, and write a poem about it."

I don't recall which teacher had us reading Robert Frost. I do know that we had to memorize and recite Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening, and I think I could recall it still, word for word, but I was somehow more drawn to his poem The Road Not Taken:

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 marked 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.


Here is my attempt to honour Mr. Frost and also tell a tale of my own:

I chose the road less traveled
not a mark left
by father, mother, brother
nor any blood relation
any footprints I could follow
faded down a path I could not choose

Days, months, years passed
and in motion yet I stood
the past a maze of pain
the future unimagined
holding no expectations
as insurance against disappointment

Not at an accidental crossroad
did I stand, but of divine design
all the haze of gray
polarized to black and white
a choice would be made
indifference cast aside

I chose the narrowest of roads
and knew there was no turning back
from darkness chosen
into fresh life born, redeemed
I listened to my Maker’s call
and that indeed made all the difference.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

"I chose the narrowest of roads
and knew there was no turning back."

Robert Frost would like this very much I think...I know I do!

Sandra Heska King said...

Karin, this is amazing!

I always loved that poem.

By divine design.

Glynn said...

I think Frost would be impressed. Great popem -- and thanks for participating in the RAP.

Ordinary Things said...

That is beautiful! Love it :)

Deana Chadwell said...

This is a really lovely piece. I liked the stanza that dealt with fear of disappointment. dc