平行時空的我們，真的過得比較好嗎？- 讀Robert Frost《未行之路》The Road Not Taken

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.

－Robert Frost 《The Road Not Taken》

旅人在樹林裡遇見了一個分岔路口，站在路口選擇該走哪一條路。這首詩在1915年創作，即使過了100多年的現在，依然引人深思，感動每個在十字路口面臨抉擇的人生旅人。分岔的兩條路中，有一條人跡雜沓，而另一條乏人問津、野草叢生，詩中的旅人最後選擇了人跡杳然的那一條，從此造就了截然不同的人生。

從小到大，我們面臨無數的抉擇，每一個抉擇的背後，都代表了放棄另一個選項；有時或許會對選擇感到後悔，想著「如果那時選擇另外一條路就好了」，但是人生沒有後悔藥。以前讀這首詩，總以為詩人寫著

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference."

隱含著因為不盲從選擇人跡雜沓的路，人生更加成功非凡；多年後的現在，重讀一次這首詩，赫然發現似乎並非如此。詩人只寫「一切都變得不一樣」，此處並未特別說明是成功或失敗，僅僅是中性的「不一樣」，因為不同的選擇，才會造就不同的人生，畢竟，好不好是比較來的，而我們永遠也無法得知在另一個時空做了另一個選擇的自己，是不是真的過得比較好；而詩人多年後回顧往事的歎息，好似為當年的選擇所造就不同的人生所下的註解，更留給讀者無限想像空間。

人生無法預測，無法回頭。假如我們能夠再回到當初的分岔路口，是否會選擇同一條路呢？

喜歡以上的心得分享嗎？歡迎透過以下連結購書，同時也能支持我繼續創作：

讀冊TAAZE、金石堂