Monday, November 10, 2008

Nothing Gold Can Stay



Nature'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."

Robert Frost (1923)



That last line has been running through my head as I watch the chrome-yellow poplar leaves whirl through the air and see the mountainsides losing their brilliance. A few autumn cyclamen are blooming and oyster mushrooms are swelling into plump succulence but fall's full glory is past and there's a tinge of sadness in the scene.


Even so, here at autumn's end, the golden poplars blaze like torches against the gray background of leafless trees, burning all the brighter with the fading of the light.


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2 comments:

Kathryn Stripling Byer said...

Vicki, one of my favorite Frost poems. And yes, the leaves do burn through the dying light. My favorite time of year, this is. But tell me, please, how you are able to center the lines on your blog. I can't get that to work on my blogger.com. Am I an idiot? Probably.
Hope you have a grand time at the network conference this coming weekend. Knock em dead! You should be invited everywhere after this.
K.

Vicki Lane said...

Hey, Kay,

When you're doing your post, up in the tool bar to the right of the little green hyperlink icon is a series of groups of horizontal lines. The second from the left centers whatever you highlight. At least, it does for me.

I'm looking forward to this conference -- thanks for suggesting I get involved with NCWN!