NOW CLOSE THE WINDOWS
Now close the windows and hush all the fields:
If the trees must, let them silently toss;
No bird is singing now, and if there is,
Be it my loss.
It will be long ere the marshes resume,
It will be long ere the earliest bird:
So close the windows and not hear the wind,
But see all wind-stirred.
Robert Frost, 1913.
Gathering Leaves
Spades take up leaves
No better than spoons,
And bags full of leaves
Are light as balloons.
I make a great noise
Of rustling all day
Like rabbit and deer
Running away.
But the mountains I raise
Elude my embrace,
Flowing over my arms
And into my face.
I may load and unload
Again and again
Till I fill the whole shed,
And what have I then?
Next to nothing for weight;
And since they grew duller
From contact with earth,
Next to nothing for color.
Next to nothing for use.
But a crop is a crop
And who's to say where
The harvest shall stop?
Robert Frost
August, 1923
We all remember the scene from the movie where the crash of '29
occurs and there's a run on the bank, and there's Jimmy Stewart using
his own money to keep the bank afloat. And remember how he describes
how one depositors' money isn't in the bank, but in his neighbors'
homes? So, how did we end up right back in this mess when the message
was so clear? Remember the other movie line we seemed to revel in
recently? "Greed is good." Only for the greedy. Greed, yes. But a lot
more.
