The Mentor

I paused to stand and watch a man who had come to the road’s divide, my wonder soared as I watched his stare slowly shift from side to side. He stood as if not noticing that many passed him by, they moved without a second glance down the road most traveled by. Then as I watched he stepped full stride toward the path of lesser wear, and soon he vanished from my view round a bend into the snare. I soon, like him, stood center road faced with that daunting choice. My gaze down his road, causing fear, I quenched my inner voice. For miles I walked the crowded road breathing dust from other’s feet, til in despair I stopped and stood, my heart and soul deplete. I gazed about still holding hope, the other path I’d see, on yonder hill I saw him there - the man who mentored me. The path between us steep and rough, un-forged with dangers there, yet still I left my path of friends, ignoring their bewares. I pressed through hardship, pain and fear o’er rocks jagged and bent. In time I crashed limp on that path, my every resource spent. But then a warming touch I felt, a friendly voice I heard. It said, “Get up and tread this path”. I rose without a word. And as I looked, I saw him there, he continued on his way, his only words as he walked on, “you’re on the path, now stay”. Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I chose in err, but looking back (perhaps as well) all memories now seem fair. Much time I spent on the beaten path and what I learned, immense. But I reached at last the other path… and it still made all of the difference.