Prologue
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
and sorry I could not travel
both
And be one traveller, 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 feet 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 travelled by,
and that has made all the difference
-Robert Frost
I didn't understand how this could be happening. For all I knew, my mind was my one infallible defense, yet somehow, as I stood captivated by the shimmering depths, it fought against everything I knew in my heart to be true. I loved him. I knew that, but why did it not seem to matter anymore?
I stooped closer to the glistening surface, unable to turn away, knowing that I should. Something about this rippling, whispering tide pool drew me in and compelled me to stay forever. The eerie murmur grew stronger in my ears, filling my mind with thoughts so intoxicating I could not resist the craving that washed over me in a chilling flood. Suddenly, as if a switch had been flipped in my mind, everything that I once desired abruptly changed.