Ode to a Squirrel: Tremendous Apology to the Poet Robert Frost and "The Road Less Traveled"

There was a road not taken by a traveling boy who diverged in a yellow wood.  It was early, dark and cold.  Our dog was leading the way to the neighbor's yard, slowly pulling, as I stood.  Alas, he is old.


His nose rustled through the frosty leaves with the moon and sun above, as this winter day began. This dog of ours would stay there long, and burrow through each smell. I chose to stand alone in peace and take it in, as well.  Then I looked upon the street to where it bent in the undergrowth ahead and saw the brothers two.


One had rushed ahead this morn, while the other was completely still.  It seemed the first had taken the road more traveled and quickly went in haste.  There were buses to catch and school to greet, and not one minute to waste.  This brother chose the familiar path, and off he quickly flew.  He never noticed the choice his brother made, in this morn anew.


The second boy has stopped his pace, his focus long and firm.  For at his feet a squirrel lay still, in a moment left to mourn. The boy's head was bowed, his neck all craned, his arms dangled by his side.  A backpack dropped and a heart stood still as this tiny squirrel began to die.  He stayed with him all the way, and never let him go.  His face was sad, and mouth did quiver as all things went to slow.  Time stood still among us three, on this path a child did make.  A silence lingered frozen still, until the wind and leaves did break.  He stared and stared until the very end, the day now bright and clear.  The squirrel long gone, the boy did bless as time moved on to day.  He sighed and found the moment now to leave and find his way.


I saw it all as paths diverged, a choice one chose to make.  To rush and run, or stop and care.  This young child did awake. My old dog and I now turned away, and moved ahead as planned.  I tell this with a loving sigh, as someday this boy will be a man.  His gentle choice seemed filled with grace and may never he regret.  When a squirrel and a boy crossed paths one day, he stopped to take it in.


"Somewhere ages and ages hence;
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I ~
I took the road less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."