Divergence

I will go and do*

or will I stay

Some know the path

without trial

but there are so many ways

two paths diverged in a wood*

one is less traveled by

which makes all the difference

but which one is mine?

the things which the Lord has commanded

are different for me

than for you

To camp is not for me

but my wilderness is just as long

one path has better claim

though worn about the same

who’s to tell which path

leads to which end

for I know that the Lord giveth

to those that asketh

but His time is certainly

not mine and I worry

with the wait

we must keep one for another

day, although the two paths

will never meet again

I do not know the difference

no commandment unto the children of men save

He knows the path

but in the road, I’ll stop and turn*

some of us like the know where

we put our feet

The path no step had trodden

back is a harder hike

not just because you must fight

but you do not know the path

He shall prepare a way

for listeners

for believers

for heart-heavy foot stomping breath-holding plungers

who ask to shoot out the lights*

Looking down both paths is

good, for He understands the fear

But sighing ages hence, which

will have made the difference?

for them that they may accomplish the thing

that He has planned

that they must do

the thing that He knows

is absolute best

I took the one

It has made all the difference

not how worn the road

but how right the road

which He has commanded them

not all commandments

are the same

not all woodland paths

publish equal claim

Footnotes:

*1 Nephi 3:7

*"The Road Not Taken", Robert Frost, poem

* "Homeward Bound", Marta Keen, song

* "Shoot Out the Lights", Ron Pope, song