The Road Not Taken

by larc 3 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  larc

  Friends,

  We have taken a different road since we left our common heritage, our religion. So, with that in mind, I am interested in your thoughts on a Robert Frost poem, The Road Not Taken. You might add your thoughts on the road you took after you left.

  The Road Not Taken - 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 to way,
  I doubted if I shoud 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.
• 

  ladonna

  Hi Larc,

  I firmly believe after reading this poem and relating it to having been born into the JW faith, that the road less travelled to me, means the road "out" of the WTBTS.

  Many are still in that I am sure know fully that the WTBTS is full of flaws; full of discrepancies, and yet choose to stay on a more comfortable road.

  The road "out", is the hardest, loneliest, and least travelled by any JW.

  Just as a side line, Larc, do you remember Richard Garnett,who wrote the poem "Where Corals Lie"?
  If so, I'd love to hear your interpretation.....
  I had to do this interpretation in a study once, and have yet to meet anyone who came up with the same interpretation, yet to me it is so obvious......

  The deeps have music soft and low
  When winds awake the airy spry,
  It lures me, lures me on to go
  And see the land where corals lie. Yes, press my eyelids close, 'tis well;
  But far the rapid fancies fly
  To rolling worlds of wave and shell,
  And all the lands where corals lie.
  By mount and steed, by lawn and rill,
  When night is deep, and moon is high,
  That music seeks and finds me still,
  And tells me where the corals lie.
  Thy lips are like a sunset glow,
  Thy smile is like a morning sky,
  Yet leave me, leave me, let me go
  And see the land where corals lie.

  Richard Garnett.

  Ana
• 

  OUTLAW

  Hey larc,I like the poetry.A few of us have taken the road less traveled.I was told I would not survive this road.This road was suppossed to have dragons,demons and other foul creatures that go bump in the night.None of that was true.It was my road to freedom, enlightenment and many new good people who have become my friends...OUTLAW
• 

  JAVA

  Hi larc,

  Robert Frost also wrote:

  Forgive, O Lord, my little joke
  I played on Thee,

  And I'll forgive Thy great
  big one on me.

  Traveling the road less traveled might seem lonely and strange until we meet others traveling the same path. In time, most roads have wide lanes with occasional exit ramps. It's usually difficult exiting because we're making good time, and we have a detestation in mind (e.g., everlasting life, a earthly paradise). If the road we're on becomes a fool's journey, it's evident something must change. Becoming angry is easy because of time wasted, opportunities passed, but exit we must. Where? Which exit? Will I repeat the same mistake?

  Any road one has not been on is a "Road Not Taken," is it not? Some seek roads with similar goals as the old path. Others seek roads with different objectives. The "Road Not Taken" is always out there, until we travel its' path. In the end, that "makes all the difference" from where we began.