Young Susan was a likely lass;
I knew her well and long;
A modest girl and good she was,
Or else my guess was wrong.
I went and came, I came and went,
As rivers ebb and flow:
Whene'er I came I felt content,
Nor less when forced to go.

Anon, without my choice or voice,
Things took another turn;
The Coming bade my heart rejoice,
The Going made it mourn:
I had no hope, no home, no goal,
Save Sue, and Sue alone,
My mind and thoughts, my heart and soul
Were her's, and not mine own.

Then deaf I grew, and dumb, and dull,
I saw nor bloom nor flower,
For nought was bright or beautiful
Unless in Susan's bower;
Sun, stars, or moon, by night or noon,
I could not find or mind—
I only gazed on Sue, and soon
I gazed my peepers blind.

When lo! a different season came,
And I was changed anew.
Though Susan still remained the same,
As fair, as good, as true,
I went and came, I came and went,
As rivers ebb and flow,
But always came with less content,
And went, well pleased to go.

Ye sages grave, you understand
Why many a youth and miss
Join heart and hand in Wedlock's band,
And woo, and coo, and kiss:
Ye thinkers, then, ye learned men,
I pray you tell me free,
The How and Where, the Why and When
Things went so odd with me.

I've thought, myself, both morn and night,
Both night and morn I've thought;
I've thought, and sought, and prayed for light,
But I've discovered nought;
So Love, you mind, is like the wind—
You feel it while it blows—
But whence it comes you cannot find,
Nor follow where it goes.

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.