Joyce-Anne Locking once said, “Like apples to the mind. one poem per day, read, written or listened to, acts as a tonic to keep thoughts healthy.” I’ve been gulping down quite a bit of poetry lately. While I am not sure it is keeping my thoughts healthy, this tonic clearly makes my heart open and inspired. The best poems are pictures and the best pictures can be poems, complete in themselves. I am amazed at how well-composed poetry and images can evoke a moment, capture the essence of an emotion. I marvel at words. So here’s a toast this fine morning. I raise my glass of words to you.
The Road Not Taken
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;
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,
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.
Beautifully expressed, as usual. You capture in plain words what is so obvious to us all…That is so clearly the essence of poetry and is, my daughter, your gift.
Thanks – this has always been a favorite!