Friday, March 22, 2019

Nothing Gold -- After Robert Frost




Nothing Gold
after Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost

Nature's first green is gold
or, in the case of that bush
with its six inches of new growth,
red.

Or, in the case of that forsythia
on the south-facing side of the house,
an unbelievable shade of bright
yellow.

Or, in the case of those new shoots
knifing up from exposed iris bulbs,
a simultaneously fragile but violent
green.

All these early hues
in leaf, in flower
hard to hold as the earth moves
along its path
hour by hour
by day by day
by season by season,

not so much subsiding
as being subsumed
in the golden Eden
of Life.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2019


2 comments:

  1. AH me, I love this so much. The Golden Eden in all its colors in spring. I love the repeated mine of "Or, in the case of..." Thanks for this beautiful mentor text.

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  2. "Hard to hold as the earth moves
    along its path"

    These words so elegantly capture this most transitory of seasons.

    The turkey vultures arrived today and the skunk cabbage is up in the seep across the gravel road. The bluebirds seem to be old friends, now, after only a few days in the apple trees.

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