Cocktail English Poems

The Road Not Taken

Robert Frost

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 keep 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.

Life is made up of a continuous series of choices. Every turn you take will lead you to a different life. Sometimes we feel envious about other people, and wish we could be like them. But it is easy to overlook the fact that, by living their way, some things that we hold dear right now will also be gone. You simply can't have it all....

Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening

Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and the frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake
To only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Gathering Leaves

Robert Frost

Spades take up leaves
No better than spoons,
And bags full of leaves
Are light as ballons.

I make a great noise
Of rustling all day
Like rabbit and deer
Running away

But the mountains I raise
Elude my embrace,
Flowing over my arms
And into my face.

I may load and unload
Again and again
Till I fill the whole shed,
And what have I then?

Next to nothing for weight;
And since they grew duller
From contact with earth
Next to nothing for color.

Next to nothing for use.
But a crop is a crop,
And who's to say where
The harvest shall stop?

Dust of Snow

Robert Frost

The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree

Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.

Fire And Ice

Robert Frost

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.

From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

Acquainted With The Night

Robert Frost

I have been one acquainted with the night.
I have walked out in rain - and back in rain.
I have out walked the furthest city light.

I have looked down the saddest city lane.
I have passed by the watchman on his beat
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.

I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street,

But not to call me back or say good-bye;
And further still at an unearthly height,
One luminary clock against the sky

Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
I have been one acquainted with the night.

Years ago there was a television series - "Beauty and the Beast -- of love and hope". Every night Vincent - the "beast" - went out to meet Catherine because his hideous appearance prevented his showing up in front of the world. Vincent possessed the pureness in his person that attracted the heroine to fall in love despite of his looks, and his good manners came from his comprehensive reading, including poetry. Coincidentally, this poem described his situation perfectly.