“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost
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.
The road not taken has always been the source of great curiosity and gnawing anxiety. Was it, unknown at the time of decision-making, the wiser choice? Would things have turned out differently, for better or for worse? Will the current path still lead to the desired goal? These and many other questions abound, unanswered, but thought about in echoing cyclicity when present circumstances become challenging.
There is, quite frankly, no way of knowing because as soon as a choice is made, and a course of action is pursued, all other possibilities are relegated to a multiverse of infinite outcomes that can never be truly known. To even hazard a probable guess is to tarnish the moment at hand and to live in a state of nostalgia and regret.
What is true, though, is this: even when two roads head in the same direction they are not the same. They may be smoother or rougher, longer or shorter, winding or straight, pleasant or arduously unpleasant. To choose one is to forgo the other; to make peace with what cannot be unknown; to accept whatever gifts a path may bring; and to learn to live in blissful ignorance of those it may not.
This is not an easy state of consciousness to achieve.
But it is a necessary one.
Rémy Ngamije is an award-winning Rwandan-born Namibian author, editor, publisher, photographer, literary educator, and entrepreneur. He is the founder of The Forge.