GBMD - 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 - New Hampshire 1923.

The poem's about spring's fleeting moments, and that's what I'm dreaming of today. The autumn gold in my garden will also fade away soon enough. Except for my pictured Yew tree of course.

Have you noticed how the trees seem to glow at dusk at the moment? Threadspider and I were discussing it the other day - it's just like all the year's captured sunlight is being used to light up our autumn evenings. Utterly magnificent.

Garden Bloggers' Muse Day - poetry on the 1st of the month, hosted by Carolyn Gail at Sweet Home & Garden Chicago.

Comments

  1. Gail1 November 2008 at 13:49

    Yes, I have noticed the glow. So beautiful and nearly impossible to capture in a photo! I tried, digital makes it fun to keep trying.

    Loved the poem!

    gail

    ReplyDelete
  2. VP1 November 2008 at 15:13

    Gail - they glow just when everything else gets so dark don't they? Pretty hard to capture -digitally or otherwise!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Rose1 November 2008 at 15:31

    VP, this is the perfect poem for today's Muse Day! Why didn't I think of this one?:) It's one of my favorites and so appropriate for this time of year. We have to enjoy the "gold" while it lasts, knowing that soon it will all be gone. Dusk and dawn are the perfect times of day to enjoy the colors of autumn; I agree they do glow.

    ReplyDelete
  4. tina1 November 2008 at 15:48

    Gold is such an elusive color. Especially when you think of what is valuable in this world. What a nice poem.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Shibaguyz1 November 2008 at 15:56

    Thanks for the thought here on our early Saturday morning.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Katarina1 November 2008 at 16:02

    That's a very sweet poem. A great reminder of nature's constant changes.
    Katarina

    ReplyDelete
  7. VP1 November 2008 at 16:45

    Rose - I didn't know this poem until a couple of days ago when it was mentioned on our national news. There's a project toreintroduce learning poetry by heart in schools and the presenter mentioned this poem as one she'd learnt at school. I do know a poem from the same volume and it was one of the first we learnt at school - 'Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening'. Robert Frost has a knack of evoking a mood using very few words. Wonderful.

    Tina - you're right. I was struggling for some gold to illustrate my poem. Then the sun came out and lit up my Yew tree and voila!

    Shibaguyz - glad it's brightened up your start to the day :)

    Roses and Stuff - welcome :) It is indeed a lovely poem.

    ReplyDelete
  8. F Cameron1 November 2008 at 18:41

    I'm so glad that you left a message on my blog so that I could find yours! I'll visit often and take a look around -- looks fabulous!

    Cameron at Defining Your Home Garden

    PS I also had to revert back to the old comment form. My husband uses a Mac and I saw that the embedded one didn't work in Safari or FireFox.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Lisa at Greenbow1 November 2008 at 19:56

    Yes, I just love this golden color. It appears during the early morning as well. Good photo for this post too.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Sol1 November 2008 at 20:03

    Hey there, I used to have a poster of this in my bed room, after I had seen it in The Outsiders film...

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous1 November 2008 at 23:30

    The light in autumn can be absolutely magical. One of my favourite photos of one of my sons with our dog is of them walking through a narrow footpath in a copse of mixed deciduous trees. It's all golden, very textured, and very luminous.

    The colours glow! Autumn is very pretty!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous2 November 2008 at 00:46

    I enjoy Frost.
    Donna

    ReplyDelete
  13. Shady Gardener2 November 2008 at 05:00

    I hadn't read this poem before, but I'm glad you shared it! What is the subject of your photo?

    ReplyDelete
  14. VP2 November 2008 at 10:53

    DYH - Welcome! I'm so glad you like it here. And thanks for the additional feedback about the new Comment form - I wonder if Blogger know about these problems?

    Lisa - Hello and many thanks! I enjoyed your post too.

    SOL - I must find out more about The Outsiders film...

    Jay - you've just put a wonderful picture in my head. Thanks.

    MNG - He's one of the first poets we did at primary school. He's one of my favourites too - so evocative, but using so few words.

    Shady Gardener - thanks. The photo's of the Yew tree in my garden. It's a golden fastigate yew - the link in my post has more information if you need it.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Sweet Home and Garden Carolina2 November 2008 at 14:45

    Hi VP and thanks for posting a wonderful selection of Robert Frost for Muse Day.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Mr. McGregor's Daughter2 November 2008 at 18:09

    Great poem for this time of year. It's difficult to decide when to take a photo of a plant displaying beautiful autumn color. Wait another day for the full effect? Or will that be too late? Gold is usually the dominant color in autumn around here, although this year the reds have been incredible.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Curmudgeon2 November 2008 at 19:21

    Enjoyed th epoem. I love Frost. We're having a dreary wet weekend so a little golden glow is just the thing needed.
    --Curmudgeon

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous2 November 2008 at 21:19

    A great poem for Muse Day. I love the golden color, but all is starting to fade, isn't it? Oh well, let's all dream of spring.~~Dee

    ReplyDelete
  19. VP4 November 2008 at 19:39

    Carolyn - glad you enjoyed my 'touch of Frost', so much better than Jack Frost ;)

    MMD - we've been lucky with all colours this year. For example, the ash trees by my house are usually pretty non-descript, but this year they've been an amazing burnt orange.

    WWW - so glad you came by and found some cheer!

    Dee - that's why I chose this poem. It's part of the springtime I'm starting to dream about already.

    ReplyDelete

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