Birches
by Robert Frost
When I see birches bend to left and right
Across the lines of straighter darker trees,
I like to think some boy’s been swinging them.
But swinging doesn’t bend them down to stay
As ice storms do. Often you must have seen them
Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning
After a rain.
They click upon themselves
As the breeze rises, and turn manycolored
As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel.
Soon the sun’s warmth makes them shed crystal shells
Shattering and avalanching on the snowcrust —
They are dragged to the withered bracken by the load,
And they seem not to break; though once they are bowed
So low for long, they never right themselves:
You may see their trunks arching in the woods
Years afterwards, trailing their leaves on the ground
Like girls on hands and knees that throw their hair
Before them over their heads to dry in the sun.
But I was going to say when
Truth broke in With all her matterofabout the icestorm fact
I should prefer to have some boy bend them
As he went out and in to fetch the cows —
Some boy too far from town to learn baseball ,
Whose only play was what he found himself,
Summer or winter, and could play alone.
One by one he subdued his father’s trees
By riding them down over and over again
Until he took the stiffness out of them,
And not one but hung limp, not one was left
For him to conquer.
He learned all there was
To learn about not launching out too soon
And so not carrying the tree away
Clear to the ground.
He always kept his poise
To the top branches, climbing carefully
With the same pains you use to fill a cup
Up to the brim, and even above the brim.
Then he flung outward, feet first, with a swish,
Kicking his way down through the air to the ground.
So was I once myself a swinger of birches.
And so I dream of going back to be.
It’s when I’m weary of considerations,
And life is too much like a pathless wood
Where your face burns and tickles with the cobwebs
Broken across it, and one eye is weeping
From a twig’s having lashed across it open.
I’d like to get away from earth awhile
And then come back to it and begin over.
May no fate willfully misunderstand me
And half grant what I wish and snatch me away
Not to return.
Earth’s the right place for love:
I don’t know where it’s likely to go better.
I’d like to go by climbing a birch tree,
And climb black branches up a snow
Toward white trunk heaven, till the tree could bear no more,
But dipped its top and set me down again.
That would be good both going and coming back.
One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.
Stella's Place 
Mornin’ all ya’all! I was expecting a Frost poem sometime this week. He was a good observer of nature.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Mornin’ kids!
LikeLiked by 4 people
We’d like to think! Mornin’ Wee!!
My mother had criticisms aplenty, but the only thing I remember my Dad criticising was Sonny and Cher’s back-and-forth sarcasm. He said sarcasm was a sign of insecurity and unhealthy. Turned out he was right.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Maybe insecurity at the Bono house, but Czar and I did it for entertainment. Part of wordplay and friendly foolishness here.
LikeLiked by 4 people
We call it ping-pong, 0r tennis depending on how cultured we want to appear. One of us lobs up a softball, and the other smashes it, much to the chagrin of the crowd….quite often. It’s one of those……do you want to take this, or is it my turn! 😀 😀 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Okay, soooo creepy! Many years ago Roald Dahl wrote a short story about a man who invented a device in his garage which broadcasted the sounds plants made: “The Sound Machine”. Today the news has a story about a device which broadcasts the sounds plants make when dehydrated.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Boy, our house would be a symphony! I’m terrible about watering, but they all survive year after year!
Morning Czarina!!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Mornin’ All. It is 36* and cloudy with some super bright sunshine peeking around the edges of the clouds. Just finishing up some housekeeping and getting a present ready for a wedding shower tomorrow. There is supposed to be some snow tonight or tomorrow. I hope not, because I will have to drive, but I think it may have warmed up enough to not have to worry about ice on the road.
Anyway, stay safe in the path of the storms wherever they are.
LikeLiked by 2 people
It’s a beautiful day here this morning…..the sun is shining, the snow is melting and it’s forecast to reach 40 degrees this afternoon. Perhaps, just perhaps, spring is actually on the way…..:0)
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hi everybody! A rainy day here, but warmer. Spring will get here soon, I imagine, but we will get a night in the 20’s tomorrow, so not yet!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Whatever prompted the actions of this bird?
The World’s Nicest Raven ❤️
LikeLiked by 1 person