The Road Taken

Image by author.

Sometimes we choose the road we will take,

planning our journey, mapping the route,

choosing the highways and byways

often with a specific destination in mind.

But even the best-laid plans may run amok.

Often the road diverges; we are faced with

potholes and pit falls, unplanned detours

past torn up pavement and unforeseen construction.

We still hope to arrive at our destination

yet knowing it will be much later than we had hoped.

Sometimes we are even forced

onto a whole different pathway,

and must regroup to outline

and plan a new course.

No matter…for it was never the destination

nor the route we chose at all…

Rather it is the folks that join us

for some or all of our journey;

whose pathways parallel our own—

who offer us camaraderie and friendship;

we find comfort in their companionship,

in knowing we do not face our journey alone.

…and for me, that has made all the difference.

© Ginny Brannan 2017

Day 29 NaPoWriMo  (optional) prompt. Take one of your favorite poems and find a very specific, concrete noun in it. After you’ve chosen your word, put the original poem away and spend five minutes free-writing associations – other nouns, adjectives, etc. Then use your original word and the results of your free-writing as the building blocks for a new poem.

If you hadn’t guessed, my word is  “road.” Apologies to Frost, my favorite poet, for plagiarizing some of his words and switching this up from “The Road Not Taken.”