Friday, January 23, 2009

Poetry Friday: Good-bye, and Keep Cold


Good-bye, and Keep Cold
by Robert Frost stirs my fiercest maternal instincts.

There is only so much we can do, no?




Good-bye, and Keep Cold
by Robert Frost

This saying good-bye on the edge of the dark
And cold to an orchard so young in the bark
Reminds me of all that can happen to harm
An orchard away at the end of the farm
All winter, cut off by a hill from the house.

...

I wish I could promise to lie in the night
And think of an orchard's arboreal plight
When slowly (and nobody comes with a light)
Its heart sinks lower under the sod.
But something has to be left to God.


Read the whole poem here at the Poetry Foundation.

Poetry Friday is hosted today by Laura Purdie Salas. Run over there and leave her your linky goodness.

5 comments:

Kelly Polark said...

That is a great poem. I am an overprotective mom, but realize I have to let my kids have some independence to grow as well. It's hard!

jama said...

Hadn't seen this one before. It's wonderfully wistful. Thanks for posting it!

Yat-Yee said...

Frost always manages to break my heart. Thanks for sharing this.

Anonymous said...

Love that poem. He wrote it for his orchard, of course, but it's great that it resonates in other ways. I posted it in 2007, on a cold, cold day. I love how the ending forces you to slow down. Brilliant writing.

tanita✿davis said...

I love this one. "Goodbye, keep cold..."
Keep cold.
Ohh.