A Thoughtful Life

I was 10 years old when the Outsiders was released to VHS.  As an overly emotional pre-teen girl, I pressed my nose to the tv screen and watched it over and over and over until I knew every line by heart.  I cried each time Johnny died and I held my breath each time Ponyboy read “Nothing Gold Can Stay”.

That poem spoke to me.  I rewound the tape to listen again and again.  It touched my heart and awoke a love of poetry that has never died.  I recited the poem to everyone I knew and was so excited to find out that it was written by Robert Frost.  Imagine my surprise when my English class studied “Stopping By The Woods on a Snowy Evening”.   I found out that my favorite poet had so much more to offer.

I quickly became consumed with all things Frost, and my parents surprised me with a compilation book of his poetry.  I still have that book, and now I share my favorites with my children.

Nothing Gold Can Stay is still tops on my list, but Robert Frost has created so much beautiful and thoughtful poetry.  A few others to read and consider are:  Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening, Design (another of my favs!), Mending Wall, and The Pasture.  These are only a few… there are so so so many others.

Who are the poets or writers who touched your life?  Can you remember that first moment when a beautifully written word took your breath away?  Please share. 
For those who aren’t familiar with the poem, or for those who just want to relive its beauty, here it is:

мебели софияNothing Gold Can Stay
by: Robert Frost

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