I wrote this poem about a year ago. I decided to publish this now after I was encouraged to do so by a friend. The basic idea for this poem came to me when I was reading Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken". All feedback - negative or positive - is welcome.
I stood
alone on the road of life,
As time pushed me forward
The track so far was already paved,
The path could not be altered.
Souls of my generation walked,
On identical roads,
All of them having common fears,
Neglecting them as they strode.
Every little
thing was frenzied,
Everyone looked hurried,
But I knew something was cooking,
As everybody scurried.
I ignored the people who walked along,
And thought back to my past
When life was calm and peaceful,
Not agitating or fast.
In the distance I could see
The road split into two
Which lane led to a dead end?
Which one would help me get through?
This choice was often spoken of,
It had a big impact,
Your decision could pull you down,
Or could keep your life intact.
But I could not come to a halt,
Because time forced me on
The fork in the road came closer,
And the tension wasn’t gone.
I looked at other people’s choices,
But the options varied,
This had to be my own decision,
I began to grow worried.
I had reached the fork but
The ends I could not see
It was very unclear,
What my future would be.
It was impossible to turn,
I had to move along,
So I picked a road at random,
And I hoped I wasn’t wrong.
Every single day was tiring,
The nights were far too short,
Every day was just a struggle,
I had to strive a lot.
But as time went on, life got better,
The nights may have been short,
Each and every day had been tiring,
But I valued what I got.
But what about the other path’s problems’
With which I had not dealt,
The successes and failures it had held,
The ones which I had not felt.
Would that path have torn my life apart?
Could it have helped me grow?
The answer to that question is something
I would never know.
How Time Forced Me
As time pushed me forward
The track so far was already paved,
The path could not be altered.
Souls of my generation walked,
On identical roads,
All of them having common fears,
Neglecting them as they strode.
Everyone looked hurried,
But I knew something was cooking,
As everybody scurried.
I ignored the people who walked along,
And thought back to my past
When life was calm and peaceful,
Not agitating or fast.
In the distance I could see
The road split into two
Which lane led to a dead end?
Which one would help me get through?
This choice was often spoken of,
It had a big impact,
Your decision could pull you down,
Or could keep your life intact.
But I could not come to a halt,
Because time forced me on
The fork in the road came closer,
And the tension wasn’t gone.
I looked at other people’s choices,
But the options varied,
This had to be my own decision,
I began to grow worried.
I had reached the fork but
The ends I could not see
It was very unclear,
What my future would be.
It was impossible to turn,
I had to move along,
So I picked a road at random,
And I hoped I wasn’t wrong.
Every single day was tiring,
The nights were far too short,
Every day was just a struggle,
I had to strive a lot.
But as time went on, life got better,
The nights may have been short,
Each and every day had been tiring,
But I valued what I got.
But what about the other path’s problems’
With which I had not dealt,
The successes and failures it had held,
The ones which I had not felt.
Would that path have torn my life apart?
Could it have helped me grow?
The answer to that question is something
I would never know.
Note: when I first wrote this, it was written as 10 paragraphs of 2 lines each and there was no consistent rhythm - though I had focussed on rhyming the lines of each paragraph. But with some advice, I re-wrote it and I liked this version better.
