"The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry" ~ Robert Burns
THRESHOLD
The future
spreads out before me | |
| Image courtesy of emilyhasbooks.com |
THRESHOLD
And I stand on the brink
Should I step out
Or fade into the past?
The future is shrouded in shadows
And the past seems all familiar
Warm and comforting
Laurels formerly won
The future is a
leap
A leap to heights unknown
Strange places, stranger faces
Am I ready?
On this
threshold of womanhoodA leap to heights unknown
Strange places, stranger faces
Am I ready?
I stand on the closing gates of girlhood
Aware of the expectations
Should I leap?
But if I leap?
Who is there to catch me
Will there be warm arms
Or cold stares?
And beyond the jump
Is that firm lands I see
Or sinking sands?
Ready to suck me in
Life is so uncertain
Full of sweetness and sadness
Plenty of laughter
But also barrels of tears
So I go into the future
Like the caterpillar
Praying that time
Will split my cocoon
So that this butterfly may be free.
I wrote this poem many years ago when I was just leaving university, I was 21, with plans to travel for more studies. Also there was NYSC, both meant leaving home and leaving behind all that was familiar. In some ways certain things seem so clear then, I had confidence even in the midst of my uncertainties. All these times later, I somewhat feel I am still on the brink and leaping has not got any easier.
In life, I guess, there would always be decisions, duties, obligations, pleasures, really choices that can take us down different roads. We should be careful to make the best ones so we would have no need to second guess ourselves, 'what ifs' can be draining but can also be educative. I saw a quote recently that I thought was quite profound "The road not traveled..." I found that it is from a poem by Robert Frost and I have taken the liberty to post it on here, enjoy.
The Road Not Taken
 |
| Image courtesy of abettercountryheb11.wordpress.com |
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.
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 future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
2 comments:
Hmmmmm, how inpiring and interesting.
Thanks.I think we can all relate to that feeling of standing on the brink.Since life is one state of change to another, we are faced with choices daily...however, some choices are more momentous then others which is the essence this poem captures
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