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The Aisle Not Taken
by Karen Poppy

(With apologies to Robert Frost)

Two aisles diverged in a grocery store.
And sorry I could not travel both
And being one shopper, long I stood.
And looked down Aisle 1 as far as I could
To cookies, chocolates, candies and more.

Then took the other, as just as good
And perhaps the better for my health;
With low-calorie foods on the shelf,
And no sugar laden goodies anywhere,
So I'll look better in underwear.

And yet both aisles that morning lay
In front of me and my cart.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Knowing I would be tempted back
To all those sweet things, stack after stack.

I shall be telling this with a (heavy) sigh
Somewhere pounds and pounds hence:
Two aisles diverged in a grocery store, and I,
I once took the one better for my thigh,
Not that it ultimately made any difference.

"The Aisle Not Taken" by Karen Poppy. Used by permission of the poet.