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 nodding by the fire, take down this book,

And slowly read, and dream of the soft look

Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,

And loved your beauty with love false or true,

But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,

And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,

Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled

And paced upon the mountains overhead

And hid his face amid a crowd of stars

the waves open their lions-mouths hungry

for the shore and I feel the earth helpless.

Some days their foamy edges are lace

at my feet, the sea a sheet of green silk.

Sometimes the shore brings souvenirs

from a storm, I sift spoils of sea grass:

find a broken finger of coral, a torn fan,

examine a sponge's hollow throat, watch

a man-of-war die a sapphire in the sand.

Some days there's nothing but sand

quiet as snow, I walk, eyes on the wind

sometimes laden with silver tasting salt,

sometimes still as the sun. Some days

the sun is a dollop of honey and raining

light on the sea glinting diamond dust,

sometimes there are only clouds, clouds—

sometimes solid as continents drifting

across the sky, other times wispy, white

roses that swirl into tigers, into cathedrals,

into hands, and I remember some days

  

I'm still a boy on this beach, wanting

to catch a seagull, cup a tiny silver fish,

build a perfect sand castle. Some days I am

a teenager blind to death even as I watch

waves seep into nothingness. Most days

I'm a man tired of being a man, sleeping

in the care of dusk's slanted light, or a man

scared of being a man, seeing some god

in the moonlight streaming over the sea.

Some days I imagine myself walking

this shore with feet as worn as driftwood,

old and afraid of my body. Someday,

I suppose I'll return someplace like waves

trickling through the sand, back to sea

without any memory of being, but if

I could choose eternity, it would be here

aging with the moon, enduring in the space

between every grain of sand, in the cusp

every wave, and every seashell's hollow.

Révision notes 

Imagery

Foamy edges of lace - metaphor 

The sea is a sheet of green silk - metaphor 

The sun is a dollop of honey - metaphor 

Solid as continents drifting - simile 

Man of war did a sapphire in the sand - metaphor 

The waves open their mouths hungry - personification 

As quiet as snow - simile 

The poet describes the beauty of the ever changing sea shore 

The tone varies as the images change. The poet imagines if he were to experience eternity he would like it to be by the sea. The seashore is a form of heaven for him 

Structure 

Long narrative prom written in continuous verses. There are between 9-12 syllables per line to give a steady rhythm. The poet used very little punctuation as he allows the poem to flow 

  

Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

It’s had tacks in it,

And splinters,

And boards torn up,

And places with no carpet on the floor—

Bare.

But all the time

I’se been a-climbin’ on,

And reachin’ landin’s,

And turnin’ corners,

And sometimes goin’ in the dark

Where there ain’t been no light.

So boy, don’t you turn back.

Don’t you set down on the steps

’Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.

Don’t you fall now—

For I’se still goin’, honey,

I’se still climbin’,

And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.