Today is National Poetry Month’s “Poem in Your Pocket” day. I really love the notion of . . . carrying a poem in your pocket. A poem you can easily and quickly share with others.
The poem I’m carrying in my pocket today is one I’ve been carrying – close to my heart – for decades. Since I was 12, actually. When I “discovered” it while reading The Outsiders the summer between 6th and 7th grades. (I loved that book so much; I’ve read it over and over through the years.) It’s the first poem I remember copying down in my diary; the first poem I tacked up on the bulletin board in my college dorm room when I moved in; one of the (very) few poems I have committed to memory . . . and one that still brings me comfort every time I read it.
Here it is – for you – today . . .
Nothing Gold Can Stay
Robert FrostNature’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.
You’ll be able to find this poem . . . everywhere. I found it this week in a lovely little anthology The Poetry of Impermanence, Mindfulness, and Joy, edited by John Brehm and published by Wisdom Publications in 2017. You can learn more about the author, Robert Frost, and read more of his poetry here.
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I hope you’ll join us in celebrating National Poetry Month each Thursday this month. Bonny will be hosting a link-up on her blog, so please check out all the posts each week — and feel free to share some poetry and join the link up.
I don’t read enough Robert Frost poetry (except maybe for Mending Wall) so I’m glad you chose him today. I always thought this was a poem about the gold leaves of fall but after reading it several times this morning I can see that he was writing about so much more and how precious and fleeting it is.
“Nothing gold can stay” is one of my favorite lines of all time. How cool that you’ve been connected with that poem for so many years! (and I LOVE the Billy Collins you shared at the top!)
This is such a beautiful poem. Robert Frost was one of my Mom’s favorite poets and I love him too. I remember in my youth being in Vermont in the summer and driving to Ripton (where Frost lived at the time) hoping to see him.
I am with Bonny in not reading enough Robert Frost… this poem packs a huge punch despite being so small! I am adding this poem to my pocket today! Thank you so much for sharing it!
I know of this poem from The Outsiders also. And probably should learn it since I tend to misquote the first line. “NATURE’S first green is gold” I think I looked out the window at trees budding down the bluff from us and said “Spring’s first green. . . ” I always love it when you share poems – thanks.
This one has long been a favorite of mine, too. Back when I was in high school, it was chosen as the theme for the yearbook; I think that may have been my introduction to it. Along with “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” I think I can credit it with piquing my interest in Frost!
Truer words were never spoken, and Frost says it better than most. Thank you for sharing this, Kym.
I’ve always loved Robert Frost’s poetry, this one included.
We were up north during the ice storm. When we were finally able to leave, my dh had to lift the bent birches on the driveway so I could get the vehicle out. He expressed surprise that the birches bent so much. I wasn’t surprised at all….Frost wrote a poem about that: Birches. Where he described the ice storm perfectly.
Thanks for the pocket poem.
Robert Frost was the first poet I ever read and is probably still my favorite. Thanks for sharing this classic of his.