Sunday 28 April 2024
‘Two paths diverge…..’
A few weeks ago I decided that it would be fun to visit a neighbouring friend for afternoon tea. However, the mountains were beckoning and I felt the urge to have the sun’s warmth on my back, the fresh scent of the newly rejuvenated veld and the wonderful freedom that walking alone in the mountains offers one; so instead of starting Shanky, our Landrover, I packed a backpack and with my faithful walking stick, I ambled up and over the mountains. All in all, the walk would be about an 8 km round journey. Not too long but long enough.
After a 600m steep climb following a well traversed buck path, I reached the plateau and, as usual, the 360 degree view took my breath away. I continued my walk, thanking the buck for helping me navigate the vast plateau, with a lightness in my step. The tiny flowers with their bright petals asked to be noticed; the little dung beetle busily rolling here and there confirmed that anything is possible as long as one perseveres; the birds flitting from Spekboom to Spekboom seemingly assuring me that I was on the right path and eventually, even the Hartebeest stood majestically watching me before darting off to find another path. Before long, I joined the ’emergency’ gravel 4×4 road and used it to wind my way over the mountain.
It was not long before I had to decide which path to take down to arrive for tea at my neighbour’s house. I could see her home in the distant and there seemed a very distinct path. I made my decision and down I went. However, the path was not as I imagined it to be! It was steep, it was full of Spekboom that needed to be climbed through, there were other spiky bushes that caught my clothes and seemed to be saying: ‘Wait a minute, this is not the right way!’ and of course there was always the thought of a snake lying unobserved waiting for a wrong step. As I gingerly guided myself down and arrived a little worse for wear for tea, I was reminded of Robert Frost poem : The Road Not Taken.
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 kept 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.
As I headed along the main gravel road homeward, after a wonderful cup of tea, I thought how much easier it is to take the path that is less challenging in our lives. But perhaps,
we need to ‘take the one less traveled by’ and
perhaps that will make all the difference?