Poem of the Day - Part 53

 The Road Not Taken

by Robert Frost

This is one of Robert Frost's most famous poems.  I used this poem two years ago in my "Poem of the Day" series, but I felt it calling to me again, and this time, aside from the first photo, I have illustrated it with photos of one of my favorite unashamed males, Nudist Jeff from Australia.

The "road not taken" is of course a metaphor for a making a choice about how to live your life.  Different people have interpreted the choice differently.  My interpretation, hinted at in the last photo, is almost certainly not what Robert Frost was thinking, but the greatness of the poem is that each person can apply it to himself.

*        *        *

                                        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.

Note: although this poem is about choosing between the two roads, I am certainly not suggesting that being gay (the road less traveled) is a choice.  We all know it isn't.  What you do with it is your choice, "and that has made all the difference."

And in case you hadn't guessed, Nudist Jeff is not only a dedicated nudist, he's gay.