A Widow's Ride

I struggled writing all of my life and I really hated taking the required English classes in high school.  Well that was until my senior year where I had to take an American Literature class which was taught by Mrs. Sharma.  She made learning fun and was the only teacher that recognized that I was struggling with the language.  She was the one who showed me how to write visually versus auditory.  It still not perfect but I have come a long way since I first walked into her class.

It was in her class I first heard the poem “Stopping By the Wood on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost.  I immediately fell in love with this poem.

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 frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

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

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

I was and still am mesmerize by the last paragraph.  While reading this in class, we also had a class discussion about each line and the summary of this poem and most of my classmates and I felt it was about death and suicide.

Now that I have stumbled upon a book of Robert Frost’s poem while unpacking, I took a moment to re-read my favorite poem.  Reflecting upon the words again, this time I feel it’s more about one’s journey in life.  For example in one of paragraph of the poem, the horse thinks it queer to stop without a farmhouse near, which to me sound like the rider finally stop in his busy schedule to pause and look into the woods and reflect upon life.  While reflecting into the woods, it dawns on the rider that he must continue his journey since he has promises to keep.

As I reflect upon own my journey, I realize that I too have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep.