Mowing by Robert Frost

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend October 3, 2015   Mowing   Robert Frost

There was never a sound beside the wood but one, And that was my long scythe whispering to the ground. What was it it whispered? I knew not well myself; Perhaps it was something about the heat of the sun, Something, perhaps, about the lack of sound— And that was why it whispered and did not speak. It was no dream of the gift of idle hours, Or easy gold at the hand of fay or elf: Anything more than the truth would have seemed too weak To the earnest love that laid the swale in rows, Not without feeble-pointed spikes of flowers (Pale orchises), and scared a bright green snake. The fact is the sweetest dream that labor knows. My long scythe whispered and left the hay to make.            This poem is in the public domain. About This Poem   “Mowing” was published in Frost’s book A Boy’s Will (H. Holt and Company, 1915).   Robert Frost was born on March 26, 1874, in San Francisco, California. He received the Pulitzer Prize four times and read at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy. Some of his collections include Mountain Interval (1916), A Further Range (1936), and A Witness Tree (1942). Frost lived and taught for many years in Massachusetts and Vermont, and died in Boston on January 29, 1963. Poetry by Frost   The Complete Poems of Robert Frost (Holt McDougal, 2002) "Juan Higera Creek" by Robinson Jeffers "There may be chaos still around the world" by George Santayana "Deep in the Quiet Wood" by James Weldon Johnson Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038