{ the jaunty magpie }

Fall is most certainly in the air. I've been enjoying the dramatic sunsets and most recently, an autumn-blessed drive through Washington, revealing the fall hues decorating the mountains. The poet Robert Frost has been on my mind, mostly due to his being mentioned several times over a weekend of Trivia Pursuit cards being read over some Oktoberfest beers. Who says alcohol and intellectualism can't mix? I took it to be a sign, that his wise words need to be rekindled and mulled over, as they rightfully should. 

I choose to highlight one his more well-known poems, The Road Not Taken, which isn't so much about seasons, but a sense of reflection over choices made and chances missed. Autumn can be a reflective time, we're realizing the year is at an end, and it's a season that's all about change. And change is most certainly in the air. So sit back with dramatic sunset, think about his words, and consider what lesser-traveled roads you have dared to venture upon in life, and perhaps consider more lesser-traveled roads ahead. 

The Road Not Taken -  by Robert Frost

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 marked 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.

Jaunty Fine Print: photography by Denise Sakaki, poem by Robert Frost