Robert Frost (1875 - 1963)
Robert Frost is generally regarded as one of the greats of American poetry, and won four Pulitzer Prizes.
My first wife, Deborah, chose the first of these two poems to be read at her memorial service, and I chose the second.
My first wife, Deborah, chose the first of these two poems to be read at her memorial service, and I chose the second.
Nothing Gold Can StayNature's first green is gold
Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf's a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay. |
Never Again Would Birds' Song Be the SameHe would declare and could himself believe
That the birds there in all the garden round From having heard the daylong voice of Eve Had added to their own an oversound, Her tone of meaning but without the words. Admittedly an eloquence so soft Could only have had an influence on birds When call or laughter carried it aloft. Be that as may be, she was in their song. Moreover her voice upon their voices crossed Had now persisted in the woods so long That probably it never would be lost. Never again would birds' song be the same. And to do that to birds was why she came. |