Fractals

Author’s note: This poem is inspired by The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost. Hope you enjoy it! 🙂

I walked down that road,

A well paved one,

Often walked upon,

Stumbled on a stone

Shapely and firm,

Patterns on the stone

Beautiful, elegant

Like fractals, ever growing,

Nudged close, defining shape.

Further down that road,

Path branches,

One paved; another not-so.

That path so winding,

So rocky, muddy

Yet in the disarray,

There was a beauty, seen only by few,

Like fractals, ever growing,

Ever winding…

I took the path,

The unpaved one, so dusty,

Sweat and blood visible on it,

Of people that walked before,

Path was unused, used by a handful,

The few who dared,

Drops of sweat, pints of blood,

Forming patterns

Like fractals, ominous

Yet, somehow motivating!

Eyes get hazy,

Breath strenuous,

Mouth dry,

Drops of sweat,

Pints of blood,

The air gets hotter,

Shadows dance with mirth

Dark, yet beautiful,

Like fractals, weaving.

Perseverance is harder done,

Easier said, tried by some,

Some who dared,

Take that path,

Now filled with flowers,

Like from a dream,

A distant dream

Squirrels, deer and fish alive,

Yes there was water,

Not made of sweat,

But borne from it,

Flower beds lasting till land unseen,

Patterns of them

Like fractals, beautiful,

Mystical, like from a fantasy

Drawing rhapsodies of joy

I sit down,

On the first clearing,

Still have that stone,

Throw it out onto the river,

Ripples formed,

Continuous, symmetrical,

Like fractals formed, clear.

Reading the ripples,

Listening to the chirp,

Feeling the hooves,

Sensing the breeze,

I fell asleep.

S. Narayanswamy