The Mentor

I paused to stand and watch a man who had come to the road's divide.
My wonder soared as I watched his stare slowly shift from side to side.
He stood as if not noticing that many passed him by.
They moved without a second glance down the road most traveled by.

Then as I watched, he stepped full stride toward the path of lesser wear,
And soon he vanished from my view round a bend into the snare.
I soon, like him, stood center road, faced with that daunting choice.
My gaze down his road, causing fear, I quenched my inner voice.

For miles I walked the crowded road breathing dust from others' feet,
Until in despair I stopped and stood, my heart and soul deplete.
I gazed about, still holding hope, the other path I'd see.
On yonder hill I saw him there, the man who mentored me.

The path between us steep and rough, unforged with dangers there,
Yet still I left my path of friends, ignoring their bewares.
I pressed through hardship, pain and fear o'er rocks jagged and bent.
In time I crashed limp on that path, my every resource spent.

But then a warming touch I felt, a friendly voice I heard.
It said, get up and tread this path. I rose without a word.
And as I looked, I saw him there, he continued on his way.
His only words as he walked on..."You're on the path, now stay."

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I chose in err.
But looking back, perhaps as well...all memories now seem fair.
Much time I spent on the beaten path, and what I learned, immense.
But I reached, at last, the other path, and it has still made all of the difference.

Inspired by Robert Frost