Robert Frost Poems 2

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.         

I get the feeling in this poem that the poet is looking back on his life and seeing that one tiny little change can make a huge difference. The roads represent the different choices in life- you can be a follower, or you can be a leader. By "taking the road less traveled by", he chose to be different. He made his choice: to be a poet, and obviously it was the correct one, as he is a published author and made money off of his work. This reminds me of the story my dad tells me about how him and my mom met:

It was after a party that mom, dad, one of dad's friends and one of mom's friends had gone to. The two men and the two women were going to walk on the beach. Dad's friend walked off with mom's friend, and mom and dad were left, so dad grabbed mom's hand and they started walking. A few months later, after living together for awhile, they got married... and then had me and my sister and so on and so forth.

That is a very BASIC version of the story, but the main thing I am trying to focus on is that Dad had a big choice to make: to grab mom's hand or NOT to grab mom's hand. And that ONE LITTLE CHOICE- well, that certainly made all the difference.

Neither Out Far Nor In Deep

The people along the sand

All turn and look one way.

They turn their back on the land.

They look at the sea all day.

As long as it takes to pass

A ship keeps raising its hull;

The wetter ground like glass

Reflects a standing gull

The land may vary more;

But wherever the truth may be--

The water comes ashore,

And the people look at the sea.

They cannot look out far.

They cannot look in deep.

But when was that ever a bar

To any watch they keep? 

I feel that this poem is kind of about sticking out. This may sound silly, but take this into consideration: Many people stare at models, and think, "oh, she/he is pretty, and I'd love to date him/her". They judge off of appearance- they don't know what is inside the person- if they are nice, loving. They judge by appearance. Meanwhile, there is a perfectly average person that is very nice and kind- but they don't get a second glance compared to the model. "The land may vary more, but wherever the truth may be: the water comes ashore, and the people look at the sea".

A Patch Of Old Snow

There's a patch of old snow in the corner,

That I should have guessed,

Was a blow-away paper the rain

Had brought to rest,

It is speckled with grime as if

Small print overspread it,

The news of a day I've forgotten,

If I ever read it.

To me, what Frost is trying to get across is that sometimes, people earn something but yet do not receive it. The snow, instead of melting like snow normally does, has survived long enough to become dirty. To some degree that is an achievement- but is still seen only as a patch of dirty snow. It is kind of like someone taking credit for a good deed that you yourself performed, and getting great attention for it- and you stand in the crowd watching, even though it should be YOU getting the attention. 

The Mermaid Story

The Mermaid’s Call

By Madison Nef

Chapter 1- A Strange Hand

For years, legends have been passed through my town, Seashville. There are accounts of ghosts, sea monsters, hellhounds- but the most famous legend is that of Shelly. Shelly is a beautiful mermaid said to swim in Seashell Lake. Our legend tells of a wonderful underwater kingdom, with treasures unimaginable. There is a castle made purely of gold and pearls, and the mermaids swim in it. When they get lonely, they simply sing in a lovely voice to attract sailors… and then capture the sailors for themselves. But that is just the stuff of legends…so I thought.

It all started on a day in July. I was hanging out with my two best friends, Emily and Katy. “Hey, you guys want to go to the beach today?” I asked them. “Sure, Melanie,” they replied in chorus. We left my house and walked down a rocky path to get there. The sun beat down on our backs. Our “beach” is just a sand strip that surrounds the lake, but it is worth it. I could already feel the cool, crisp water on my back, the summer breeze whipping through my hair…ahhhhh.

We finally made it to the lake. “Beware of Jelly,” Emily joked. Jelly is our supposed resident lake monster- an oversized jellyfish. Anyone who’s been here long enough knows there is no such thing, and that Jelly is just a sales gimmick. Nevertheless, I am still hesitant to go in the water. I slowly step in, letting my feet soak for a minute. My friends run in, laughing and splashing, and I soon join them. “Let’s play ‘find the locket’,” says Katy. Find the locket is a fun game- we use a plastic, yellow necklace and drop it somewhere in the lake. Then, the ones who do not know where it is have to find it underwater.

Emily hides the locket first, and then tells me and Katy to go find it. I take a big breath of air, and then dive beneath the surface. I scan the bottom and quickly see the necklace. It is halfway covered in sand. I swim over and reach for it, and at the same time, another hand grabs for it. I pull hard, and the necklace breaks free into my hands. I surface quickly to yell at Katy, who I assumed was the one who had reached for the necklace, but she is across the lake with Emily. What had grabbed my necklace?

I look around cautiously. Then, I run over to my friends. “Did you guys grab my necklace?” I ask, already knowing the answer. “No!” my friends clamor. I sigh and say “Let’s head home… I am feeling sick.”


My friends walked me home and hung out for a few hours. When they FINALLY leave, I go to my room to lie down and think. I think about the hand, and right away my brain connects it with Shelly. ‘But Shelly is a myth’, I think to myself. ‘A myth and that is all’. I drift off into a deep sleep, and start to dream…

Chapter 2- The Dream

I open my eyes slowly. Light fills them and I squint. I sit up to look around. I am on a beach SOMEWHERE- I do not remember ever seeing it. I see a huge wave coming- it is going to crash right on top of me! My brain tells me to scramble inland, but instead, I dive into the water. It feels natural to me- I am swimming perfectly and shockingly, I am breathing! I look downward and see something glittering at the bottom of the lake.

I dive down gracefully and find it is a mirror. In entices me, and I look into it- but the face looking back at me is not my own! Instead, a face with big blue eyes and thick, blonde hair looks back at me, flashing a supermodel smile. I cannot pry my eyes away from the mirror, it is so addicting! But when I do pull my eyes away, I look down- only to see that I have a tail! And not just any tail- a gorgeous mermaid tail! It is a soft green color, with gold and pearls all over it.

But even though it is not natural, I don’t feel the least bit surprised. I continue to gaze into the lovely mirror, which somewhat matches my tail. But then, I hear a voice- a screeching, gurgling voice-cry out: “Giiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiivvvvvvvvvvvvvveee itttttttt baaaaaaaaaaaccccckkkkk!” I spin around, and an ugly being is coming towards me! Once it is up close, I see that it is another mermaid, and if you look, she is somewhat pretty. She has a shark’s tail, and teeth to match. Her eyes are silver, and her hair is jet black and long. She snatches at mirror. “GIVE IT BAAAAACK, SHELLLLYYYYYY!” she wails.

I wake up shivering.

Chapter 3- Shelly’s POV (Spoiler! The dream is actually reality…Shelly’s POV picks up just after it ends.)

I look back behind myself. Shadow is still tailing me, teeth bared. I grin to myself- I have the mirror, not HER. Everyone knows that there are a FEW key things about mermaids, some of them being:

• We love to sing and we love music
• We LOVE mirrors
• We are very catty and curse any man who tears apart from us after enchantment
• We love the water and could never part with it

I swim faster, towards my home in a large rock underwater. I grab the seashell handle on my door and swim in fast, slamming it behind me, which causes my house to shake. I hear Shadow banging on the door outside, screeching at me. I am shaking, clutching the mirror tight to my chest. ‘Why should I give it back?’ I think to myself. ‘I found it, not her, so it is rightfully mine!’ I place the mirror carefully under my pillow and swim to the door. I am shaking like a fish out of water as I slowly open the door.

Shadow is hovering in the water, glaring at me angrily. “I saw it firrrrst!” she wails in a horrible, shrieking sound. I clap my hands over my ears. “Yes, and I reached it first!” I contradict angrily. “The mirror is rightfully mine- it even matches my tail.” “Well, when I saw it it looked like me!” Shadow fumes at me. “Oh, so when you saw it it had a bad attitude and a set of chompers too big for its face?!” I retort casually, a sly smile sliding onto my face.

Shadow turns a dark shade of red and slinks away.

Chapter 4- A Friendly Dolphin (Melanie’s POV)

I get up early in the morning, still feeling stricken from my dream. I try to tell myself that it is nothing, but deep down I know the only way to get rid of the tugging curiosity is to go back to the lake and look around- under the water.

I rented some scuba diving gear from a local shop, and after strapping it on, jumped into the water. I try to look around, but the water is very murky and I can’t. Nevertheless, I dive down into the water, and as I am about to give up hope, a dolphin shoots by. ‘Wait, what? A dolphin?’ I say to myself. ‘There aren’t any dolphins down here!’

I quickly follow the ‘dolphin’ through the murkiness. Amazingly enough, it leaves a good, clean trail for me to follow! Finally, I come to a large log. I see that the dolphin has stopped just past it, so I swim over it. As I get closer, I see that the ‘dolphin’ is not a dolphin- it is a mermaid! “Shelly?!” I ask in disbelief as I swim closer. The mermaid turns to face me. She is old looking, with white hair and grey eyes. She shakes her head sadly. She tries to speak, but I do not understand her language.
I shake my head, and then she nods slowly. She softly starts singing, and this I CAN understand:

I’m not She-e-ly,
But perhaps you’ll he-elp me,
I’ve dropped my glasses in this sandy flo-o-oor!
Find them,
I’d be so very glad…

I look around on the floor, and see the glasses lodged in some sand. I grab them and hand them to her. “What’s your name?” I ask. The mermaid made a garbled noise: DAAAAA-LLLLLLL-EEEEEEE. I thought for a minute, and then had an idea. “Is your name Dolly?” I asked. The mermaid nodded. I smiled, and continued on my way. I had been so caught up in my little adventure that I forgot to check my oxygen tank… and I slowly lost air and sank to the bottom of the lake.

Chapter 5- A Mysterious Recovery
When I regained consciousness, I was in the local hospital. My mom and dad were standing by my side, each with a worried look on their face. “Wha-what happened?” I ask groggily. “You were found washed up on the beach,” my mom replies calmly. “It’s a good thing we found you when we did- Stuck in that mask with no air- the doctors thought you were gone!”

I was shocked. I just wanted to relax now. “Could you tell me my favorite story?” I asked. I am 13, and a bit old for stories, but this one is my favorite. It is about a mermaid, and it has a good morale. Here is how it goes:

Opa turned to the first page of the strange book of fairy tales. “This story is called The Entangled Mermaid.”
“I like mermaids!” Arianna said excitedly.
Opa laughed, “Yes, I know you do. Now this story starts with a young mermaid named Cordelia. She was a beautiful mermaid and her parents loved her more than anything. The three of them all lived happily in a little pool connected to the ocean. It was half salt water, like the ocean, and half fresh water, like a river. All of the other mer-families loved visiting this pool because being in the ocean all the time was dangerous.”
“Why?” asked Alex.
“Because the ocean is full of scary sea monsters. That’s why all the mermaids were afraid to travel in the sea without mermen. So, because their pool was safe, Cordelia and her parents often held parties for all of the other merfolk.”
“I wanna be a mermaid so I can go to a mermaid party!” Arianna said, pouting.
“Well, maybe someday, if you wish hard enough, then you’ll turn into a mermaid.” Opa winked. “Now, one day Cordelia’s parents left to visit some relatives in a far away part of the ocean. It was a treacherous journey, so they left Cordelia at home. Excited that she now had the pool to herself, Cordelia invited all of her mermaid friends over for a picnic. After they ate, all of the mermaids searched for seaweed, pearls, and coral to put in their hair to make it even more pretty. Cordelia was crowned the Mermaid Queen.”
“What’s a mermaid queen?” Alex wondered aloud.
“That means that everyone voted that she was the prettiest of all of the mermaids. After they chose their Queen, all of the mermaids talked about how strange it would be to be a human. You see, they didn’t understand things like legs and clothing. They were all having a wonderful time when suddenly a merman came swimming up, looking pale and tired. Cordelia asked him what was wrong and he said that some horrible humans were going to come and drain the pool to build a dam. Do you know what a dam is?”
“Oh, oh! Is that the thing that beavers build with trees?” asked Arianna.
“It is! Good job. So, when they heard this terrible news, all of the mermaids panicked because if the pool was destroyed, then they would have to live in the ocean with the sea monsters all of the time. Cordelia, however, didn’t believe the merman. She thought that he was making it all up just to have an excuse to come see how beautiful she was. She told him to stop trying to scare them and shooed him away. After that, all of the mermaids left and Cordelia went to bed. That night she slept for longer than usual and when she woke up the pool was almost empty. As she swam around in the shallow pool, she noticed that a dam and fences had been built around the pool while she was asleep.”
“The merman was right!” said Alex.
“Yes he was. Cordelia was scared that she would never be able to make it back to the ocean, so she swam up to the dam and tried to climb it. At this exact moment, her parents returned to find their home blocked by the dam. They saw Cordelia trying to escape and attempted to help her, but Cordelia’s beautiful hair got caught in the dam. The more she struggled, the more her hair got tangled.”
“Oh no!” said Arianna, looking scared. “Is she gonna be okay?”
“Just be patient, Arianna. As Cordelia was struggling to free herself from the dam and her parents were trying to help her, some humans nearby heard all the noise they were making. Four of the humans rushed up and grabbed Cordelia, who was so scared that she fainted. Cordelia’s parents cried over the loss of their daughter and their home. They would have stayed there and cried all day if some more humans hadn’t tried to grab them as well, forcing them to swim away. When Cordelia awoke, she found herself in an aquarium.”
“Like Goldie!” Alex said, pointing to his goldfish in its fishbowl.
“Yes, like Goldie, except Cordelia’s fishbowl was much bigger. She could see the faces of many humans coming to look at her every day. For the rest of her life she lived in that aquarium, on display for the humans. She learned that if she had not been so vain and if she had only listened to that merman who tried to warn her, she would be out in the ocean with her parents. So, kinderen, being smart is better than only caring about your appearance.” Opa said, finishing the story.
“I get it!” said Arianna.

I sigh and smile as the story ends. My eyes drift closed and I slip into a deep sleep.

Dolly’s POV (Short Paragraph)

I saw her go down. I couldn’t just leave her there to die; she had, after all, helped me. I knew that humans couldn’t breathe water, they had to use special tanks filled with something called ‘oxygen’. So I swam down, grabbed her, and pulled her to the surface. I left her in plain sight- I hope she was found. I had to leave quickly so I wouldn’t be discovered. I wish there were more people like her around- Kind and generous.

Melanie’s Journal

August 15th, 2013
I have been out of the hospital for 1 month now and since have not gone back to the lake. Now that I know mermaids exist, I can go visit them- I am still scared though- if I fainted again, it would be dangerous. I don’t know WHO rescued me from the bottom of the lake… but I have a pretty good hunch. The last thing I remember from the bottom of the lake was looking up and seeing a shadowy figure swim over me before my eyes rolled back in my head.

August 28th, 2013
I finally got up the guts to go back to the lake today. I only waded in up to my ankles though… I think the accident is getting to me. Tomorrow, me and Emily and Katy have plans to dive together- there is no backing out now!

August 29th, 2013
We just got back from diving! I didn’t run out of air- but I didn’t see any mermaids either. I guess that if they were common, everyone would see them…or maybe I am just crazy, maybe they don’t exist. I am almost positive I did though… otherwise, how would I have gotten from the bottom of a murky lake to the beach?

I closed my diary, satisfied. I had gotten over my fear of water. For the rest of the summer, I was going to scuba dive with my friends. I was going to chill out on the beach, take art class, do whatever I wanted- and maybe even spot a couple more mermaids. As for my friends, I don’t think they quite believe me- but I don’t care. I know what I saw, and I have reason to believe it.

Mermaid’s Prologue

Shelly, like all mermaids, aged slowly and happily. She kept the mirror, despite Shadow’s efforts to claim it for her own. Hundreds of years later, she was crowned the mermaid queen of the lake. She cleared out the murk and pollution that made the lake ugly, and this brought new life the area. Mermaids found underground channels from the sea and came to live in the beautiful lake- and since there were more mermaids, there were more sightings, and since there were more sightings, there were more tourists. The mermaid kingdom thrived, as did Seashville.

Shadow was never peaceful- she wanted the mirror. She let it destroy her completely, and she grew out of control. She was thrown out of the lake when Shelly became queen for thievery of another mermaid’s mirror, when she was denied the one she wanted. She left in a fury, and since there was a large monster passing by, it is presumed she was eaten. In any case, she was never seen again.

As for Dolly, she had reached the peak of her life. She got very ill after rescuing Melanie, and died shortly after. But she died happily at a ripe old age of 2035, and knew she had died for the right purpose.
The End

Leprechaun

Mythological Creatures Report

By Madison Nef

Isobel’s Story

Isobel skipped through the rolling green hills of Ireland. The sky was bright blue and the clouds were white and fluffy. The bright rainbow in the sky reminded her of the legend in her town- the legend of the leprechaun’s gold. The legend was that if you followed the rainbow to its end, you would find a small cave. In this cave lived a leprechaun, and if you could fool him with a riddle, you would get his pot of gold.

How wonderful it would be if that was true, Isobel thought. Her family was very poor, living in a small shack away from the town.  Her mother was a seamstress, and her father was a farmer for a rich family in town. Isobel’s older brother, Conor, was a dog breeder, but he had long since moved out of the house and did not correspond with the family anymore. Isobel herself was almost 13- the age when she had to find a job of her own.

Isobel turned to head back to her house… when she heard laughter. She whipped around to look behind herself, but no one was there. She looked up- the rainbow was fading into the distance. She took a few steps towards the rainbow. The jovial laughter sounded again, only louder. She started walking into the rainbow… and the laughter grew louder with each step. She saw a cave up ahead, and ran to it. Was this real? Were her eyes playing tricks on her from being in the sun too long? Just then, it started to rain and the rainbow faded away.

Lighting struck the ground and the thunder rattled the earth. Terrified, Isobel ran home. She told her mother and father about what had happened, and they both agreed that she had too much sun. Isobel went to bed. When she woke the next morning, the laughter still rung in her head- so she ran out the door to find the cave, had there been one. She tried to remember her path- and came upon where the rainbow had fallen.

She slowly turned on her flashlight and peered into the cave. It was dark, and seemed empty.  She walked into it a little, looking around. It was quite spacious for a cave. Suddenly, something crunched beneath her feet. She looked down and saw a small bag of chips. She frowned, what was that doing here? She walked further in, and as she did, she grew uneasy. Suddenly, something hit her over the head- and everything went black.

When Isobel woke up, she was hanging upside down from the ceiling of the cave, and a strange little man with bright red hair in a green suit was standing in front of her with his arms crossed. “You’ll never get me gold!” he yelled at her. “Your gold?! Why would I want you-“Isobel’s sentence trailed off, for she saw that behind the little man was a huge pot of gold, enough to make her whole TOWN rich! Isobel couldn’t believe it- standing in front of her was a LEPRECHAUN!

She stared at him in disbelief for a minute. Then she remembered the legend- you had to fool the leprechaun with a riddle if you wanted his gold! “Don’t I have to tell you a riddle?” she asked the leprechaun. “Yes ye do,” said the leprechaun. “You have three tries to fool me.”

“Um… what do you call a fake stone in Ireland?” she said. “Why, that’s easy! A shamrock!” exclaimed the little leprechaun. “Well then, what do you get when you cross poison ivy with a four leaf clover?” she asked again. “A rash of good luck! Everyone knows that,” said the leprechaun. He was not readily going to give up HIS treasure!

Isobel gave the riddle one last shot. “What happens if a leprechaun falls into a river?” she asked. “Well, he, well….” The leprechaun trailed off. Isobel grinned. “He…. Loses his favorite tie?” the leprechaun asked nervously. “NOPE!” Isobel roared with great glee. “He gets wet, like anybody else! Now give me my gold!” With that, she wriggle free of the rope holding her up, and ran to the pot of gold. She picked it up and ran from the cave.

She gave the gold to her family, and donated what they did not need to charity. She never went back to the little cave in the woods. Her and her family lived happily ever after.

The Leprechaun’s Tale

We leprechauns tend to keep to ourselves. We don’t mind pulling a trick or few on the humans, and giving them misleading facts, but we don’t downright interact with them… unless they come near our gold. I am Sean, and I am the leprechaun of Goldstern Valley. I live in a secluded cave in the hills, and I don’t get involved with humans unless they come to my cave looking for trouble. I will lead them to it with my laugh sometimes, because, as one of my kind, I love tricks. But I would NEVER give up my gold.

It was a normal day for me. I got up and put on my green suit and my favorite silver buckle shoes. I lit my pipe and stumbled into my cave’s kitchen for breakfast. Living situations could have been better, but I did not care as long as my gold was safe, and from what I had seen, this was the best place for it. I went to check it to see if it was still where I had left it. All was intact, so I grabbed my lucky coin and headed for the forest market.

The forest market is well disguised by small magical creatures. It’s a little town for us where we go to shop. Mostly fairies and pixies run it, and they are VERY careful not to come in contact with humans. I use my lucky coin at the market all the time. It is a coin that always returns to my pocket- no matter how many times I spend it. While at the market, I overheard weather would be bad tonight, so I started to go home. But as I did, I noticed a redheaded young girl heading towards my cave!

To throw her off, I laughed a deep, guttural laugh. She paused, looking around. I ran back to my cave and got my megaphone, and started laughing more. She was coming towards my cave! But just before she could enter it, the sky opened up and she ran home. My heart was beating terribly fast, and so I went to my bedroom and slept.

However, my sleep was needed to prepare me for the next day- the girl returned, and when I woke up, she was near my gold room! I grabbed my frying pan from the kitchen and took a jump, knocking her on the head with the pan as I came down. Once she was out cold, I dragged her into the gold room and hung her from the ceiling by her ankles using magic spells sold to me by a witch from the market.

When she awoke, all the girl wanted to do was tell me riddles. The first two I got right, but then she stumped me with the last one. I’d never fallen in water, how was I supposed to know!? I told you I have little contact with the outside world (with the exception of going to the market). But then something even worse happened.  The witch’s spell wore off, and the girl got free! And since she had stumped me with a riddle, she took my gold- and there was nothing I could do about it.

She left, and I was very broken hearted. That was my life’s savings she had just taken from me! I was in deep despair- until I remembered the code of the leprechaun. Because we are such dishonest creatures, we have spells on our gold- in 100 years, our gold is returned, every piece intact- doubled. Until then, I at least had my lucky coin to go to market with- and perhaps I could gamble for some gold at the town pub.