The Road Not Taken

The speaker is walking through a yellow wood and comes to a fork in the road where he must choose between two paths. Understanding that he cannot travel both, he stands for a long time trying to see as far down one path as possible, where it bends in the undergrowth.

He then decides to take the other road, which seems just as fair but perhaps has a better claim because it is grassy and wanted wear—implying fewer travelers have trodden it. However, he acknowledges that, in reality, both paths were worn about the same that morning and covered in leaves that had not been blackened by footsteps.

He saves the first road for another day, though he doubts he will ever return, knowing how one road leads to another. He concludes by predicting that in the far future, he will tell this story with a sigh, asserting that taking the road less traveled by has made all the difference in his life.