"I took the one less traveled by,"

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

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.

Robert frost

I don't know why, but I felt like reading that poem this morning. I suppose in this time of change in my life, new job, new outlook on my health, it's spring a time for rebirth and renewing things, I felt that poem had some significance. "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by,". And it has indeed made all the difference. When I look back over my life, I have taken a less traveled by road, even if I go right back, back to when I finished school. Unsure of what to do, of what I wanted to do with my life. Well, to be honest I was sure, I was more unsure of how to do it. I wanted to entertain, I wanted to sing or act, to perform.

I started my career in a hotel as a barman and Night porter, not a very artistic beginning I know, but it was full time work, and gave me the time I needed off to study classical guitar. But something interrupted that, a year into my studies (Part time study, full time work) I went to an audition, for a band being put together by a well known music 'guru'. I was surprised and pleased to find I had gotten picked out of the thousands who had applied to join this band. I will admit to a moment or ten of pride over that, even now I feel pride that I was there, you can take away what a man has, or what he's going to have, you can never touch what he has already had. I have a past I can look back upon and feel pride. All men should, nothing could be more depressing than live as in Robert Frosts famous line:
"And nothing to look backward to with pride, and nothing to look forward to with hope. "

The band did ok, we toured Ireland with the 2FM 'Beat on the street' festival, we appeared on TV a few times. I loved it, that moment when you walk out on stage, the walk from the wings to the microphone is terrifying, the music starts, you strum on your guitar, your throat dries up, and then, then you start to sing and it all goes away. All the doubt, the fears, the anxieties, all of it seems as nothing, a fallen leaf blown away in the wind of your song. The greatest moment of my life was Singing the opening line to Daydream believer and having nearly 30,000 people sing the next line back to me in Dublin. I found it hard to keep tears from eyes that day. But that was all just the beginning, as these things tend to go, our moment in the sun went. Two of us left the group, it was heartbreaking at the time, yet I can honestly say I have no regrets, I did what was best for me at the time, and it worked out rather well. I needed work so I got a job in a music store. A friend suggested I apply to the company where he worked, he pulled a favour or two and got me in. That was the real start of the path that lead me to here, where I am now. If I had not taken the road less traveled by, I would have done the whole college, degree, job cliché. Who knows where I would be now, but I would not be here, and I am glad that I am.

That one new job in a factory in Kildare completely altered the path of life forever, changed the direction I took, even changed where I live, for the career it led me into brought me to the south coast of the country where I live now. I would advise anyone to take the 'road less traveled by' who knows where it might lead you. For me it had led to a beautiful home by the sea, and now a job that pays rather well. Everything in my life seems to be falling into place really, bit by bit. Funny how a Robert Frost poem brought all that to my mind.
In ending this post I will leave you with another of his poems, probably one of my top ten favorite poems of all time. Enjoy.


Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
by Robert Frost
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.


Slán leat,
Concúbhair