The Dilemma Poem by Patrick Utitufon

Lonely once I wandered as though in a trance
I found myself lost in thoughts entwined
Standing by two crossroads in semblance
Both outworn and kerb outlined

So I stood there between both paths
In entwined dilemma worse than dismay
Vain comparing—perplexed—considering depths
Whether which way to despise or foray

Thence, curiously I gazed at both ways
With liking observation: the left path I could see
So gentle, enticing, seethed—it relays
And all Life wants with us lie

And I could see through the woods:
The greenery, the flushing meadows, the brook
The pleasant flowers, the rose beds, the broods
of the nestling birds—all these bait as I look

Beneath the horizon down the distant crest
It lay with many a passerby
Half contented half happy with Happiness vest
In Melancholy far worse than their Ecstasy

For there lies the thing we desire most
With its errors camouflaged in fine figurines
And Fantasies seeming fairer than the coast
That supersedes and leads to ruins

And while I stood there in astute wonder
There rose in me a still small voice saying:
“Mind not the Fiend that lures thee to linger
While tarry here, thy bliss away fading

Take the path seeming narrow and less travelled by
Untrodden, uncrowded, unfriendly and blue
Of unquestionable bends from sand to sky
With no company nor fear of queue”

Ah, I bent thither, at once, glanced forward
At all its aspects worth consideration:
The hills, valleys—demands to fare onward
And my discovery surpass imagination

And this despised path less travelled by choose I
And deeper daily discover why it lay bare
And the reasons daily I see
Certainly, ‘tis the right way I foray!