沒走的那條路

Henri Rousseau,
Femme se promenant dans une foret exotique (Woman Walking in an Exotic Forest)

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.

-- by Robert Frost

詩的內容大致是描述一個旅人(其實 robert frost 說的是他自己, 整首詩也就是在表達自己走上文學之路的心境), 在樹林中的兩條叉路前駐足, 最後他選了一條較少人走的走下去, 原來兩條路也沒多大差別, 但選擇之後, 就沒得反悔, 因為路一條一條走下去, 此生大概也沒機會去走那另外一條路, 雖然有點惆悵, 但無怨無悔.

當初也只是順理成章地做了一個選擇, 沒什麼對錯與得失, 就好像兩條叉路一定得選一條, 才能往前走. 如此一條路連著下一條路, 就這樣走到今天. 一直不變的是, 接觸食物與果醬這路, 要一直走下去, 那麼沒走的那些”別的路”, 是沒機會再去走, 也不會想去走, 就像樹林中另外一條叉路. 期望很久很久以後, 能像 robert frost 那樣坦然回首, 看著陽光透過果醬的溫暖色澤.