What the Hell Does the Road Less Traveled Even Mean?

Every venture is a journey when you take the road less travelled.

This is my tagline. It’s inspirational and encouraging, but not fluffy. It has some weight to it, makes you think for a second, but it’s not dense. I like it, obviously.  

But when I decided to use it as a tagline, I wasn’t aware of how subjective the road less traveled is. And while I prefer to leave things up for interpretation, I feel compelled to talk about what it means to me.

And when I began to examine and express it, what came up took the form of this poem. So, I kept it that way.

Untraveled Road

To live a life less lived—
take the road less traveled.
But for every road that’s missed,
there’s perspective still unraveled.
Such is the cost of choice
‘cause whichever way you go,
you could’ve traveled more
on the road you could’ve traveled.

The world revolves around us,
and rotates by design.
To walk the road least traveled
is to cross the borderline.
But least is more than most
when the way to go is less,
and to walk a sideless road
is to walk on neither side.

The highest of the highs
meets the lowest of the lows,
and they differ by the sky
when you broaden what you know.
What something is,
what it is not,
is simple contradiction.
So, when doubting your convictions,
you know where not to go.

To live a life less lived—
take the road less traveled,
but the road is a test of will,
it will try to keep you baffled.
Such is the cost of choice,
‘cause the way you want to go,
is not as safe and raveled
as the road you could’ve traveled.

The world works against us
when changing its design.
And messing with the status quo
demands a sacrifice.
It may be best to live and love
than stand a lonely end —
to mend your mind,
find the bend,
or fight the fight inside.

But,
The road is not the journey
when your footsteps are your own.
And every path you ever took
was once untraveled road.
You hadn’t seen what you saw
until you chose a side,
and numbers don’t decide
what makes untraveled road.