The Road Not Taken

I understand that the Vatican recently issued the 10 Commandments of Driving. I haven't seen them, but I would like to propose another:

If you are in the LEFT TURN ONLY lane, TURN LEFT.

It's a simple concept, but one that a lot of people don't seem to understand. At least 3 times a week, I get into a left turn only lane, confidently expecting to turn left. The green arrow comes on, and the idiot in front of me inches forward, then stops, throws on his right turn signal and waits to merge into the forward moving traffic. Does he imagine that a fast-moving rush-hour stream of traffic is going to let him merge? Does he think that the people behind him, who really do want to turn left before the light changes, are thinking sweet thoughts about him and wishing him well? Guess again. Yesterday I saw a dyslexic minivan suddenly swerve out of the left turn only lane, cross two east bound lanes of traffic, and turn right.

No, the only thing to do if you are in a left turn only lane is turn left. If you didn't want to turn left, turn anyways, find a safe place to turn around and go back. The people behind you will bless you. Anyhow, who knows what you might discover on your little side trip.


The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
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.

If Bees Are Few

Did you know that the bees are disappearing? According to an article in the Washington Post, honeybees are vanishing. No one knows why. No one even knows where they are going. There are no piles of dead bees anywhere, but hives are empty. There is some concern because agriculture depends on bees for pollination; and, if the bees are leaving, what species will be checking out next?

Do I have a poem for the situation?

Of course.

Emily Dickinson

To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee,
One clover, and a bee,
And revery.
The revery alone will do,
If bees are few.