the road not taken : two roads diverged in a yellow wood , and sorry i could not travel both and be one traveller , 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 travelled by , and that has made all the difference .