April is National Poetry Month and thus I have been reading from three different books of collected poems: John Donne, Alfred Lord Tennyson, and Robert Frost. Throughout the month I plan on posting on various poems, but this evening I'd just like to share a short Frost poem because it is timely. Driving home from an errand this evening I noted that the trees have suddenly sprouted their yellow-green flowers and tiny baby leaves. So . . .

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.

Written in 1923, this simple 8-line poem isn't just about spring. It is about moving from that transient moment of promise to the time after, when the potential has not quite been fulfilled. An appropriate little poem that shows the beauty of understatement and simple imagery. One of the reasons I do love Frost's poetry.