Robert Frost

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=3 height=105 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="756" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 98 ><NOBR><div> <B><IMG SRC="1b34e5b0.jpg" border=0 width="78" height="91" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> Robert Frost</div> <div> <B>                             </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Bimini" ><B>He took the Road less Traveled by and made a difference.</B></FONT></div> <div> <B> </B></div> <div> <A HREF="angelou.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Maya Angelou"><U>Maya Angelou</U></A>   |   <A HREF="dickenson.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Emily Dickinson"><U>Emily Dickinson</U></A>   |   <B>Robert Frost</B>   |   <A HREF="hardy.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="ThomasHardy"><U>ThomasHardy</U></A>   |   <A HREF="hughes.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Langston Hughes"><U>Langston Hughes</U></A>   |   <A HREF="poe.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Edgar Allen Poe"><U>Edgar Allen Poe</U></A>   |   <A HREF="thomas.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dylan Thomas"><U>Dylan Thomas</U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="2" width=105 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <A HREF="http://pub26.ezboard.com/bliquidpoetry" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://pub26.ezboard.com/bliquidpoetry"><U><B><IMG SRC="216581f0.gif" border=0 width="88" height="31" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://pub18.bravenet.com/forum/show.asp?usernum=1530070141&cpv=1" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://pub18.bravenet.com/forum/show.asp"><U><B><IMG SRC="20f581f0.gif" border=0 width="88" height="31" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <div> <A 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VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://pub18.bravenet.com/guestbook/show.asp?usernum=1530070141&cpv=1" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://pub18.bravenet.com/guestbook/show"><U><B><IMG SRC="214581f0.gif" border=0 width="88" height="31" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="mailto:res08dfs@verizon.net" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:res08dfs@verizon.net"><U><B><IMG SRC="215581f0.gif" border=0 width="88" height="31" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=345 colspan=2 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="1f800803.jpg"> <bR> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="641" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="238"><div> <A HREF="#a_prayer_in_spring" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U><B>A Prayer in Spring</B></U></A></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <A HREF="#on_looking_up_by_chance_at_the" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U>On Looking Up by Chance at the Constellations</U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="238"><div> <A HREF="#a_time_to_talk" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U><B>A Time to Talk</B></U></A></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="392"><div> <A HREF="#once_by_the_pacific" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U><B>Once by the Pacific</B></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="#an_old_man_s_winter_night" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U><B>An Old Man's Winter night</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="392"><div> <A HREF="#out_out" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U><B>Out Out</B></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="238"><div> <A HREF="#design" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U><B>Design</B></U></A></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="392"><div> <A HREF="#spring_pools" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U><B>Spring Pools</B></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="#for_once_then_something" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U><B>For Once Then Something</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <A HREF="#stopping_by_woods_on_a_snowy_evening" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U><B>Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="238"><div> <A HREF="#fragmentary_blue" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U><B>Fragmentary Blue</B></U></A></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <A HREF="#the_need_of_being_versed_in_country_1" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U>The Need Of Being Versed In Country Things</U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="#love_and_a_question" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U><B>Love and a Question</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="392"><div> <A HREF="#the_road_not_taken" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U><B>The Road Not Taken</B></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="238"><div> <A HREF="#mending_wall" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U><B>Mending Wall</B></U></A></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="392"><div> <A HREF="#the_sound_of_the_trees_" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U><B>The Sound of the Trees </B></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="238"><div> <A HREF="#mowing" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U><B>Mowing</B></U></A></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="392"><div> <A HREF="#the_tuft_of_flowers" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U><B>The Tuft of Flowers</B></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="#nothing_gold_can_stay" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U><B>Nothing Gold can Stay</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="392"><div> <A HREF="#the_wood_pile" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U><B>The Wood-Pile</B></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="238"><div> <A HREF="#october" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U><B>October</B></U></A></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="392"><div> <A HREF="#ghost_house_" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U><B>Ghost House </B></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B> <A NAME="mending_wall"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><B>Mending Wall</B></div> <bR> <div> Something there is that doesn't love a wall,</div> <div> That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it</div> <div> And spills the upper boulder in the sun,</div> <div> And make gaps even two can pass abreast.</div> <div> The work of hunters is another thing:</div> <div> I have come after them and made repair</div> <div> Where they have left not one stone on a stone,</div> <div> But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,</div> <div> To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,</div> <div> No one has seen them made or heard them made,</div> <div> But at spring mending-time we find them there,</div> <div> I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;</div> <div> And on a day we meet to walk the line</div> <div> And set the wall between us once again.</div> <div> We keep the wall between us as we go.</div> <div> To each the boulders that have fallen to each.</div> <div> And some are loaves and some so nearly balls</div> <div> We have to use a spell to make them balance:</div> <div> "Stay where you are until our backs are turned!"</div> <div> We wear our fingers rough with handling them.</div> <div> Oh, just another kind of outdoor game,</div> <div> One on a side. It comes to little more:</div> <div> There were it is we do not need the wall:</div> <div> He is all pine and I am apple orchard.</div> <div> My apple trees will never get across</div> <div> And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.</div> <div> He only says, "Good fences make good neighbors."</div> <div> Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder</div> <div> If I could put a notion in his head:</div> <div> "<I>Why</I> do they make good neighbors? Isn't it</div> <div> Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.</div> <div> Before I built a wall I'd ask to know</div> <div> What I was walling in or walling out,</div> <div> And to whom I was like to give offense.</div> <div> Something there is that doesn't love a wall,</div> <div> That wants it down." I could say "Elves" to him,</div> <div> But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather</div> <div> He said it for himself. I see him there,</div> <div> Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top</div> <div> In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.</div> <div> He moves in darkness as it seems to me,</div> <div> Not of woods only and the shade of trees.</div> <div> He will not go behind his father's saying,</div> <div> And he likes having though of it so well</div> <div> He says again, "Good fences make good neighbors."</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="frost_m.htm" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B> <A NAME="mowing"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><B>Mowing</B></div> <bR> <div> There was never a sound beside the wood but one, </div> <div> And that was my long scythe whispering to the ground. </div> <div> What was it it whispered? I knew not well myself; </div> <div> Perhaps it was something about the heat of the sun, </div> <div> Something, perhaps, about the lack of sound-- </div> <div> And that was why it whispered and did not speak. </div> <div> It was no dream of the gift of idle hours, </div> <div> Or easy gold at the hand of fay or elf: </div> <div> Anything more than the truth would have seemed too weak </div> <div> To the earnest love that laid the swale in rows, </div> <div> Not without feeble-pointed spikes of flowers </div> <div> (Pale orchises), and scared a bright green snake. </div> <div> The fact is the sweetest dream that labor knows. </div> <div> My long scythe whispered and left the hay to make. </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="frost_m.htm" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B> <A NAME="nothing_gold_can_stay"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><B>Nothing Gold can Stay</B></div> <bR> <div> Nature's first green is gold,</div> <div> Her hardest hue to hold.</div> <div> Her early leaf's a flower;</div> <div> But only so an hour.</div> <div> Then leaf subsides to leaf.</div> <div> So Eden sank to grief,</div> <div> So dawn goes down to day.</div> <div> Nothing gold can stay.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="frost_m.htm" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B> <A NAME="an_old_man_s_winter_night"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><B>An Old Man's Winter night</B></div> <bR> <div> All out of doors looked darkly in at him</div> <div> Through the thin frost, almost in separate stars,</div> <div> That gathers on the pane in empty rooms.</div> <div> What kept his eyes from giving back the gaze</div> <div> Was the lamp tilted near them in his hand.</div> <div> What kept him from remembering what it was</div> <div> That brought him to that creaking room was age.</div> <div> He stood with barrels round him -- at a loss.</div> <div> And having scared the cellar under him</div> <div> In clomping there, he scared it once again</div> <div> In clomping off; -- and scared the outer night,</div> <div> Which has its sounds, familiar, like the roar</div> <div> Of trees and crack of branches, common things,</div> <div> But nothing so like beating on a box.</div> <div> A light he was to no one but himself</div> <div> Where now he sat, concerned with he knew what,</div> <div> A quiet light, and then not even that.</div> <div> He consigned to the moon, such as she was,</div> <div> So late-arising, to the broken moon</div> <div> As better than the sun in any case</div> <div> For such a charge, his snow upon the roof,</div> <div> His icicles along the wall to keep;</div> <div> And slept. The log that shifted with a jolt</div> <div> Once in the stove, disturbed him and he shifted,</div> <div> And eased his heavy breathing, but still slept.</div> <div> One aged man -- one man -- can't keep a house,</div> <div> A farm, a countryside, or if he can,</div> <div> It's thus he does it of a winter night. </div> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="frost_m.htm" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B> <A NAME="on_looking_up_by_chance_at_the"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><B>On Looking Up by Chance at the Constellations</B></div> <bR> <div> You'll wait a long, long time for anything much</div> <div> To happen in heaven beyond the floats of cloud</div> <div> And the Northern Lights that run like tingling nerves.</div> <div> The sun and moon get crossed, but they never touch,</div> <div> Nor strike out fire from each other nor crash out loud.</div> <div> The planets seem to interfere in their curves</div> <div> But nothing ever happens, no harm is done.</div> <div> We may as well go patiently on with our life,</div> <div> And look elsewhere than to stars and moon and sun</div> <div> For the shocks and changes we need to keep us sane.</div> <div> It is true the longest drouth will end in rain,</div> <div> The longest peace in China will end in strife.</div> <div> Still it wouldn't reward the watcher to stay awake</div> <div> In hopes of seeing the calm of heaven break</div> <div> On his particular time and personal sight.</div> <div> That calm seems certainly safe to last to-night.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="frost_m.htm" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B> <A NAME="the_sound_of_the_trees_"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><B>The Sound of the Trees </B></div> <bR> <div> I WONDER about the trees. </div> <div> Why do we wish to bear </div> <div> Forever the noise of these </div> <div> More than another noise </div> <div> So close to our dwelling place? </div> <div> We suffer them by the day </div> <div> Till we lose all measure of pace, </div> <div> And fixity in our joys, </div> <div> And acquire a listening air. </div> <div> They are that that talks of going </div> <div> But never gets away; </div> <div> And that talks no less for knowing, </div> <div> As it grows wiser and older, </div> <div> That now it means to stay. </div> <div> My feet tug at the floor </div> <div> And my head sways to my shoulder </div> <div> Sometimes when I watch trees sway, </div> <div> From the window or the door. </div> <div> I shall set forth for somewhere, </div> <div> I shall make the reckless choice </div> <div> Some day when they are in voice </div> <div> And tossing so as to scare </div> <div> The white clouds over them on. </div> <div> I shall have less to say, But I shall be gone. </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="frost_m.htm" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B> <A NAME="spring_pools"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><B>Spring Pools</B></div> <bR> <div> These pools that, though in forests, still reflect</div> <div> The total sky almost without defect,</div> <div> And like the flowers beside them, chill and shiver,</div> <div> Will like the flowers beside them soon be gone,</div> <div> And yet not out by any brook or river,</div> <div> But up by roots to bring dark foliage on.</div> <div> The trees that have it in their pent-up buds</div> <div> To darken nature and be summer woods --</div> <div> Let them think twice before they use their powers</div> <div> To blot out and drink up and sweep away</div> <div> These flowery waters and these watery flowers</div> <div> From snow that melted only yesterday. </div> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="frost_m.htm" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B> <A NAME="the_tuft_of_flowers"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><B>The Tuft of Flowers</B></div> <bR> <div> I went to turn the grass once after one </div> <div> Who mowed it in the dew before the sun. </div> <div> The dew was gone that made his blade so keen</div> <div> Before I came to view the leveled scene. </div> <div> I looked for him behind an isle of trees; </div> <div> I listened for his whetstone on the breeze. </div> <div> But he had gone his way, the grass all mown, </div> <div> And I must be, as he had been,--alone, </div> <div> 'As all must be,' I said within my heart, </div> <div> 'Whether they work together or apart.' </div> <div> But as I said it, swift there passed me by </div> <div> On noiseless wing a 'wildered butterfly, </div> <div> Seeking with memories grown dim o'er night </div> <div> Some resting flower of yesterday's delight. </div> <div> And once I marked his flight go round and round, </div> <div> As where some flower lay withering on the ground. </div> <div> And then he flew as far as eye could see, </div> <div> And then on tremulous wing came back to me. </div> <div> I thought of questions that have no reply, </div> <div> And would have turned to toss the grass to dry; </div> <div> But he turned first, and led my eye to look </div> <div> At a tall tuft of flowers beside a brook, </div> <div> A leaping tongue of bloom the scythe had spared </div> <div> Beside a reedy brook the scythe had bared. </div> <div> I left my place to know them by their name, </div> <div> Finding them butterfly weed when I came. </div> <div> The mower in the dew had loved them thus, </div> <div> By leaving them to flourish, not for us, </div> <div> Nor yet to draw one thought of ours to him. </div> <div> But from sheer morning gladness at the brim. </div> <div> The butterfly and I had lit upon, </div> <div> Nevertheless, a message from the dawn, </div> <div> That made me hear the wakening birds around, </div> <div> And hear his long scythe whispering to the ground, </div> <div> And feel a spirit kindred to my own; </div> <div> So that henceforth I worked no more alone; </div> <div> But glad with him, I worked as with his aid, </div> <div> And weary, sought at noon with him the shade; </div> <div> And dreaming, as it were, held brotherly speech </div> <div> With one whose thought I had not hoped to reach. </div> <div> 'Men work together,' I told him from the heart, </div> <div> 'Whether they work together or apart.' </div> <div> And would suffice. </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="frost_m.htm" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B> <A NAME="the_wood_pile"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><B>The Wood-Pile</B></div> <bR> <div> Out walking in the frozen swamp one gray day</div> <div> I paused and said, 'I will turn back from here.</div> <div> No, I will go on farther- and we shall see'.</div> <div> The hard snow held me, save where now and then</div> <div> One foot went through. The view was all in lines</div> <div> Straight up and down of tail slim trees</div> <div> Too much alike to mark or name a place by</div> <div> So as to say for certain I was here</div> <div> Or somewhere else: I was just far from home.</div> <div> A small bird flew before me. He was careful</div> <div> To put a tree between us when he lighted,</div> <div> And say no word to tell me who he was</div> <div> Who was so foolish as to think what he thought.</div> <div> He thought that I was after him for a feather-</div> <div> The white one in his tail; like one who takes</div> <div> Everything said as personal to himself.</div> <div> One flight out sideways would have undeceived him.</div> <div> And then there was a pile of wood for which</div> <div> I forgot him and let his little fear</div> <div> Carry him off the way I might have gone,</div> <div> Without so much as wishing him good-night.</div> <div> He went behind it to make his last stand.</div> <div> It was a cord of maple, cut and split</div> <div> And piled- and measured, four by four by eight.</div> <div> And not another like it could I see.</div> <div> No runner tracks in this year's snow looped near it.</div> <div> And it was older sure than this year's cutting,</div> <div> Or even last year's or the year's before.</div> <div> The wood was gray and the bark warping off it</div> <div> And the pile somewhat sunken. Clematis</div> <div> Had wound strings round and round it like a bundle.</div> <div> What held it though on one side was a tree</div> <div> Still growing, and on one a stake and prop,</div> <div> These latter about to fall. I thought that only</div> <div> Someone who lived in turning to fresh tasks</div> <div> Could so forget his handiwork on which</div> <div> He spent himself the labour of his axe,</div> <div> And leave it there far from a useful fireplace</div> <div> · To warm the frozen swamp as best it could</div> <div> With the slow smokeless burning of decay. </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="frost_m.htm" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B> <A NAME="once_by_the_pacific"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><B>Once by the Pacific</B></div> <bR> <div> The shattered water made a misty din.</div> <div> Great waves looked over others coming in,</div> <div> And thought of doing something to the shore</div> <div> That water never did to land before.</div> <div> The clouds were low and hairy in the skies,</div> <div> Like locks blown forward in the gleam of eyes.</div> <div> You could not tell, and yet it looked as if</div> <div> The shore was lucky in being backed by cliff,</div> <div> The cliff in being backed by continent;</div> <div> It looked as if a night of dark intent</div> <div> Was coming, and not only a night, an age.</div> <div> Someone had better be prepared for rage.</div> <div> There would be more than ocean-water broken</div> <div> Before God's last Put out the Light was spoken. </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="frost_m.htm" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B> <A NAME="the_road_not_taken"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><B>The Road Not Taken</B></div> <bR> <div> TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,</div> <div> And sorry I could not travel both</div> <div> And be one traveler, long I stood</div> <div> And looked down one as far as I could</div> <div> To where it bent in the undergrowth;</div> <div> Then took the other, as just as fair,</div> <div> And having perhaps the better claim,</div> <div> Because it was grassy and wanted wear;</div> <div> Though as for that, the passing there</div> <div> Had worn them really about the same,</div> <div> And both that morning equally lay</div> <div> In leaves no step had trodden black.</div> <div> Oh, I kept the first for another day!</div> <div> Yet knowing how way leads to way,</div> <div> I doubted if I should ever come back.</div> <div> I shall be telling this with a sigh</div> <div> Somewhere ages and ages hence:</div> <div> Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-</div> <div> I took the one less traveled by,</div> <div> And that has made all the difference.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="frost_m.htm" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B> <A NAME="stopping_by_woods_on_a_snowy_evening"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><B>Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening</B></div> <bR> <div> WHOSE woods these are I think I know.</div> <div> His house is in the village though;</div> <div> He will not see me stopping here</div> <div> To watch his woods fill up with snow.</div> <div> My little horse must think it queer</div> <div> To stop without a farmhouse near</div> <div> Between the woods and frozen lake</div> <div> The darkest evening of the year.</div> <div> He gives his harness bells a shake</div> <div> To ask if there is some mistake.</div> <div> The only other sound's the sweep</div> <div> Of easy wind and downy flake.</div> <div> The woods are lovely, dark and deep.</div> <div> But I have promises to keep,</div> <div> And miles to go before I sleep,</div> <div> And miles to go before I sleep.</div> <bR> <div>  </div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="frost_m.htm" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B> <A NAME="design"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><B>Design</B></div> <bR> <div> I found a dimpled spider, fat and white,</div> <div> On the white heal-all, holding up a moth</div> <div> Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth-</div> <div> Assorted characters of death and blight</div> <div> Mixed ready to begin the morning right,</div> <div> Like the ingredients of a witches broth-</div> <div> A snow-drop spider, a flower like froth,</div> <div> And dead wings carried like a paper kite.</div> <div> What had that flower to do with being white,</div> <div> The wayside blue and innocent heal-all?</div> <div> What brought the kindred spider to that height,</div> <div> Then steered the white moth thither in the night?</div> <div> What but design of darkness to apall?—</div> <div> If design govern in a thing so small.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="frost_m.htm" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B> <A NAME="a_time_to_talk"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><B>A Time to Talk</B></div> <bR> <div> WHEN a friend calls to me from the road</div> <div> And slows his horse to a meaning walk,</div> <div> I don’t stand still and look around</div> <div> On all the hills I haven’t hoed,</div> <div> And shout from where I am, What is it?</div> <div> No, not as there is a time to talk.</div> <div> I thrust my hoe in the mellow ground,</div> <div> Blade-end up and five feet tall,</div> <div> And plod: I go up to the stone wall</div> <div> For a friendly visit.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="frost_m.htm" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B> <A NAME="a_prayer_in_spring"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><B>A Prayer in Spring</B></div> <bR> <div> OH, give us pleasure in the flowers to-day;</div> <div> And give us not to think so far away</div> <div> As the uncertain harvest; keep us here</div> <div> All simply in the springing of the year.</div> <bR> <div> Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,</div> <div> Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;</div> <div> And make us happy in the happy bees,</div> <div> The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.</div> <bR> <div> And make us happy in the darting bird</div> <div> That suddenly above the bees is heard,</div> <div> The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,</div> <div> And off a blossom in mid air stands still.</div> <bR> <div> For this is love and nothing else is love,</div> <div> The which it is reserved for God above</div> <div> To sanctify to what far ends He will,</div> <div> But which it only needs that we fulfil.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="frost_m.htm" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B> <A NAME="the_need_of_being_versed_in_country_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><B>The Need Of Being Versed In Country Things</B></div> <bR> <div> THE house had gone to bring again</div> <div> To the midnight sky a sunset glow.</div> <div> Now the chimney was all of the house that stood,</div> <div> Like a pistil after the petals go</div> <div> The barn opposed across the way,</div> <div> That would have joined the house in flame</div> <div> Had it been the will of the wind, was left</div> <div> To bear forsaken the place's name.</div> <div> No more it opened with all one end</div> <div> For teams that came by the stony road</div> <div> To drum on the floor with scurrying hoofs</div> <div> And brush the mow with the summer load.</div> <div> The birds that came to it through the air</div> <div> At broken windows flew out and in,</div> <div> Their murmur more like the sigh we sigh</div> <div> From too much dwelling on what has been.</div> <div> Yet for them the lilac renewed its leaf,</div> <div> And the aged elm, though touched with fire;</div> <div> And the dry pump flung up an awkward arm;</div> <div> And the fence post carried a strand of wire.</div> <div> For them there was really nothing sad.</div> <div> But though they rejoiced in the nest they kept,</div> <div> One had to be versed in country things</div> <div> Not to believe the phoebes wept.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="frost_m.htm" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B> <A NAME="for_once_then_something"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><B>For Once, Then, Something</B></div> <bR> <div> OTHERS taunt me with having knelt at well-curbs</div> <div> Always wrong to the light, so never seeing</div> <div> Deeper down in the well than where the water</div> <div> Gives me back in a shining surface picture</div> <div> My myself in the summer heaven, godlike</div> <div> Looking out of a wreath of fern and cloud puffs.</div> <div> <I>Once,</I> when trying with chin against a well-curb,</div> <div> I discerned, as I thought, beyond the picture,</div> <div> Through the picture, a something white, uncertain,</div> <div> Something more of the depths--and then I lost it.</div> <div> Water came to rebuke the too clear water.</div> <div> One drop fell from a fern, and lo, a ripple</div> <div> Shook whatever it was lay there at bottom,</div> <div> Blurred it, blotted it out. What was that whiteness?</div> <div> Truth? A pebble of quartz? For once, then, something.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="frost_m.htm" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B> <A NAME="fragmentary_blue"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><B>Fragmentary Blue</B></div> <bR> <div> WHY make so much of fragmentary blue</div> <div> In here and there a bird, or butterfly,</div> <div> Or flower, or wearing-stone, or open eye,</div> <div> When heaven presents in sheets the solid hue?</div> <bR> <div> Since earth is earth, perhaps, not heaven (as yet)--</div> <div> Though some savants make earth include the sky;</div> <div> And blue so far above us comes so high,</div> <div> It only gives our wish for blue a whet.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="frost_m.htm" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B> <A NAME="love_and_a_question"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><B>Love and a Question</B></div> <bR> <div> A STRANGER came to the door at eve,</div> <div> And he spoke the bridegroom fair.</div> <div> He bore a green-white stick in his hand,</div> <div> And, for all burden, care.</div> <div> He asked with the eyes more than the lips</div> <div> For a shelter for the night,</div> <div> And he turned and looked at the road afar</div> <div> Without a window light.</div> <bR> <div> The bridegroom came forth into the porch</div> <div> With, 'Let us look at the sky,</div> <div> And question what of the night to be,</div> <div> Stranger, you and I.'</div> <div> The woodbine leaves littered the yard,</div> <div> The woodbine berries were blue,</div> <div> Autumn, yes, winter was in the wind;</div> <div> 'Stranger, I wish I knew.'</div> <bR> <div> Within, the bride in the dusk alone</div> <div> Bent over the open fire,</div> <div> Her face rose-red with the glowing coal</div> <div> And the thought of the heart's desire.</div> <bR> <div> The bridegroom looked at the weary road,</div> <div> Yet saw but her within,</div> <div> And wished her heart in a case of gold</div> <div> And pinned with a silver pin.</div> <bR> <div> The bridegroom thought it little to give</div> <div> A dole of bread, a purse,</div> <div> A heartfelt prayer for the poor of God,</div> <div> Or for the rich a curse;</div> <bR> <div> But whether or not a man was asked</div> <div> To mar the love of two</div> <div> By harboring woe in the bridal house,</div> <div> The bridegroom wished he knew.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="frost_m.htm" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B> <A NAME="out_out"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><B>"Out, Out"</B></div> <div> "Out, Out--"</div> <div> The buzz-saw snarled and rattled in the yard</div> <div> And made dust and dropped stove-length sticks of wood, </div> <div> Sweet-scented stuff when the breeze drew across it. </div> <div> And from there those that lifted eyes could count</div> <div> Five mountain ranges one behind the other</div> <div> Under the sunset far into Vermont. </div> <div> And the saw snarled and rattled, snarled and rattled, </div> <div> As it ran light, or had to bear a load. </div> <div> And nothing happened: day was all but done. </div> <div> Call it a day, I wish they might have said</div> <div> To please the boy by giving him the half hour</div> <div> That a boy counts so much when saved from work. </div> <div> His sister stood beside them in her apron</div> <div> To tell them 'Supper'. At the word, the saw, </div> <div> As if to prove saws knew what supper meant, </div> <div> Leaped out at the boy's hand, or seemed to leap--</div> <div> He must have given the hand. However it was, </div> <div> Neither refused the meeting. But the hand! </div> <div> The boy's first outcry was a rueful laugh. </div> <div> As he swung toward them holding up the hand</div> <div> Half in appeal, but half as if to keep</div> <div> The life from spilling. Then the boy saw all--</div> <div> Since he was old enough to know, big boy</div> <div> Doing a man's work, though a child at heart--</div> <div> He saw all spoiled. 'Don't let him cut my hand off</div> <div> The doctor, when he comes. Don't let him, sister!'</div> <div> So. But the hand was gone already. </div> <div> The doctor put him in the dark of ether. </div> <div> He lay and puffed his lips out with his breath. </div> <div> And then -- the watcher at his pulse took fright. </div> <div> No one believed. They listened at his heart. </div> <div> Little -- less -- nothing! -- and that ended it. </div> <div> No more to build on there. And they, since they</div> <div> Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs. </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="frost_m.htm" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B> <A NAME="october"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><B>October</B></div> <bR> <div> O hushed October morning mild,</div> <div> Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;</div> <div> Tomorrow's wind, if it be wild,</div> <div> Should waste them all.</div> <div> The crows above the forest call;</div> <div> Tomorrow they may form and go.</div> <div> O hushed October morning mild,</div> <div> Begin the hours of this day slow.</div> <div> Make the day seem to us less brief.</div> <div> Hearts not averse to being beguiled,</div> <div> Beguile us in the way you know.</div> <div> Release one leaf at break of day;</div> <div> At noon release another leaf;</div> <div> one from our trees, one far away.</div> <div> Retard the sun with gentle mist;</div> <div> Enchant the land with amethyst.</div> <div> Slow, slow!</div> <div> For the grapes' sake, if the were all,</div> <div> Whose elaves already are burnt with frost,</div> <div> Whose clustered fruit must else be lost--</div> <div> For the grapes' sake along the all.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="frost_m.htm" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B> <A NAME="ghost_house_"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><B>Ghost House </B></div> <bR> <div>  I dwell in a lonely house I know </div> <div>  That vanished many a summer ago, </div> <div>  And left no trace but the cellar walls, </div> <div>  And a cellar in which the daylight falls, </div> <div>  And the purple-stemmed wild raspberries grow. </div> <bR> <div>  O'er ruined fences the grape-vines shield </div> <div>  The woods come back to the mowing field; </div> <div>  The orchard tree has grown one copse </div> <div>  Of new wood and old where the woodpecker chops; </div> <div>  The footpath down to the well is healed. </div> <bR> <div>  I dwell with a strangely aching heart </div> <div>  In that vanished abode there far apart </div> <div>  On that disused and forgotten road </div> <div>  That has no dust-bath now for the toad. </div> <div>  Night comes; the black bats tumble and dart; </div> <bR> <div>  The whippoorwill is coming to shout </div> <div>  And hush and cluck and flutter about: </div> <div>  I hear him begin far enough away </div> <div>  Full many a time to say his say </div> <div>  Before he arrives to say it out. </div> <bR> <div>  It is under the small, dim, summer star. </div> <div>  I know not who these mute folk are </div> <div>  Who share the unlit place with me-- </div> <div>  Those stones out under the low-limbed tree </div> <div>  Doubtless bear names that the mosses mar. </div> <bR> <div>  They are tireless folk, but slow and sad, </div> <div>  Though two, close-keeping, are lass and lad,-- </div> <div>  With none among them that ever sings, </div> <div>  And yet, in view of how many things, </div> <div>  As sweet companions as might be had. </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="frost_m.htm" TITLE="Robert Frost"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=30 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <I> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="516" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 14 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Liquid Thoughts"><U><I>Liquid Thoughts</I></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="47"><div> <A HREF="angst.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Angst "><U><I>Angst </I></U></A></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="42"><div> <A HREF="dark.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dark"><U><I>Dark</I></U></A></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="45"><div> <A HREF="humor.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Humor "><U><I>Humor </I></U></A></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <A HREF="inspirational.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Inspirational "><U><I>Inspirational </I></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="35"><div> <A HREF="life.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Life "><U><I>Life </I></U></A><I> </I></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <A HREF="love.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Romantic"><U><I>Romantic</I></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="48"><div> <A HREF="nature.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Nature "><U><I>Nature </I></U></A></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="48"><div> <A HREF="people.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="People "><U><I>People </I></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></I></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>