The autumn leaves and back roads of Augusta County, Va.

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.

The Road Not Taken
By Robert Frost (1874-1963)

Photos by Lynn R. Mitchell
Western Augusta County, Va.
26 October 2011