This picture brought to mind a poem, some quotes, and a principle.
The Road Not Taken (Frost, 1915)
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.
And/or
"And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left." (Is. 30:21)
Life is full of choices, yet I have found that it is possible to make choices in such a way that instead of being full of self-doubt regarding "roads not taken," one may have assurance that you are running "the race marked out for you."
"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us..." Heb. 13:1-3
Listen for the voice. Discern the path set before you. Run with patience.
Live large! No regrets!
This was the first post I read today, and what a way to start the day! :) Thank you.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant!
ReplyDeleteI have to say that Laura Jayne has certainly got us all thinking.
I'd love to see some of your own work accompanying your photos.
As I work mainly in landscape photography it's occurred to me over the last fortnight that I might like to re-visit some of my pictures and re-interpret them in poetry. I've always thought of the two pursuits as mutually exclusive, but now I realise that the one can feed off the other.
I have an idea for some multimedia work, but given my end of year schedule, it's probably going to be early January before I have the time to sit down quietly and try out some theories in practice.
I adore that quotation from Heb. We always tend to think of races as being 'fast, fast' but as the Taoist saying goes, 'So much to do, so little time to do it. Must go slow...'
I shall now run patiently back to my marking. :-)
Sacha
Without meaning in any way to belittle the seriousness of your post or of the comments here, I couldn't resist posting a short piece I wrote when someone asked me to take a line from the Frost poem and use it as the first line of a poem of my own:
ReplyDelete"Alternatives"
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I
didn't much care for either of them,
so I turned around and went home.
It was going to rain, anyway.
Yes, actually the second picture down is of the moon, jupiter and venus. I actually thought it was mercury, not venus, but only because I know mercury can be seen at sunrise. The weird thing was, I saw the moon and the two "stars" pretty early - the sun hadn't even started setting yet. I just thought the cresent moon and the two stars looked sort of fairy tale evil to me, so I took a picture. Later that night I saw the news and found out I had photographed jupiter! I love astronomy and photography, so you can only imagine how excited I was. Did you get the pleasure of seeing the spectacle?
ReplyDeleteHedgie,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post. Humor is always welcome on this blog. Even in the midst of the serious, a well placed joke is appreciated. It makes a good balance. That's why I other posts called: Just For Fun! (I've made it a practice for years to look in a mirror every once in a while and have a good laugh. It keeps me from taking me too seriously. Seriously!)
well said.
ReplyDeletethank you.
This post...this post! Amazing.
ReplyDeleteThe Frost poem gets me every time. Poetry has definitely taken a strange turn in recent times, but there is no denying genius and to read it aloud, even better. The words turn in your mouth like fine wine.
I have the verse from Isaiah written on a little board that hangs on my fridge. It's one of my favorites, ever. Here's the other verse I keep as a reminder:
"Until now you have not asked for anything in My name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete." ~ John 16:24