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" by Robert Frost. Public domain
I did this little sketch along a country road in s.e. WI at a nature/forestry center where my friend Kendra is the Program Specialist. It's called the Seno Woodland Center after a Dr Seno who donated the land. The town is Burlington, WI. It's a beautiful spot.
I did two freehand sketches that day (ink and watercolor/no graphite). As with all en plein air work, everyone remembers exactly where they were and what they were feeling when they did the art. I can still feel the warmth of the late September morning on my arms and smell the bergamot and hear the rustle of the corn nearby waiting for the harvest soon to come. Queen Anne's lace bordered the road sides there and pale blue chicory. It was SO quiet. Just a few bees buzzing.
I was reading this old and lovely poem by Robert Frost this morning and this scene of that country road came to me. The poem is a big favorite of my husband and me. We take a lot of back roads "literally" in our travels (remember Blue Highways: A Journey into America by William Least Heat-Moon?) And the older you get the more you realize that the roads you have chosen "figuratively" make all the difference. I sometimes go into reverie thinking...what if? But mostly I think...Thank you, God.
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