Pinch-hitting for LC: The Roads I've Taken (Poetry Bus)

The Poetry Bus is being driven by Karen at Keeping Secrets. She has us thinking of Robert Frost and forks in the road, and so the challenge for passengers this week will be to write about one of the following:

(1) a time you had to choose between two clearly divergent paths; (2) a time you were called to walk a path you didn't choose for yourself; or (3) a time you refused to travel the path you were called to follow. If these won't work for you, write anything about a choice you made.

Here is my ticket:

The Wrong Way Home

By Dr. M

 




Why, given the choice,

Do I so often take a turn

I know will lead me down

A winding path that draws

Me far away from home

And you?

I need to rush right back!

But no, I turn and drive

Past the buffalo

And his goat companion,

Past the big red barn

And the silo covered with ivy,

Near where that old house

Once stood, neglected curtains

Flapping through the open windows,

Where life and hope and love

Once dwelt, but now

Only emptiness abides.

The house, the shell,

Its curtains are all gone now,

Only tumbled stones remain,

But the memory of what was

Still draws me down that road

As surely as thoughts of you

Draw me back, no matter

How far afield I’ve roamed,

No matter how many barns

And farms and cows and sheep

I’ve seen rest or play or graze

On any given rambling day.

It is my way, it seems,

To take the wrong path home,

To dally, drift, explore,

Like a poem that meanders,

Yet remains ever faithful

To the one who inspires it.