Two Trees Converge in a College Park

"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." *

Two trees converged in a college park,

And sorry I could not see their fate,

And be one oak tree, long I stood,

And tried to grow sturdy, as much I could,

Until I was merged to another weight.

Our limbs were long and gnarled be,

Twined with garland and persimmon leaves,

And reaching up to touch the sky,

The cleanest, purest expanse on high,

We determined to flourish righteously.

"And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black

Oh, I marked the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back."

As time took time, irrelevantly,

The days changed from summer into fall,

And more I merged the the louder I sang,

We had our promises and picked our names,

When autumn arrived, they were strong and tall.

But as the light turned bright to gray,

We shed our colors and bared our flesh,

And together in the dimming glow

The other we both came to know,

Proximity closed— thus failed the test?

"I should 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."

I should be thinking this with a sigh,

Some days and hours later, yet,

With branches now exposed and bared,

Roots intertwined, all has been shared,

The closer we come, the closer we'll get.

And limb on limb, with all leaves fair,

Brushing together in the cooling air,

It must be done at an early age,

When we're still naive enough to say

This is right, and it's okay—

Will that make all the difference?

*Robert Frost reference, "The Road Not Taken"