Versedays: October by Robert Frost

Image Credit: spectrumservice

October poetry continues this week on Versedays. This time we have chosen Robert Frost's "October" for its atmospheric imagery that conjures up a sharp fall morning even for people like me who haven't experienced one yet. The underlining feeling in Frost's poem, as far as I can see, is that of fleeting time. Since the days are short during this period, Frost beseeches Time to go slowly and "make the day seem to us less brief." Time is one of the most favored subjects of poetry and most of them wish time would go slower. Don't we all?

October

by

Robert Frost

O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
Tomorrow’s wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.
The crows above the forest call;
Tomorrow they may form and go.
O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow.
Make the day seem to us less brief.
Hearts not averse to being beguiled,
Beguile us in the way you know.
Release one leaf at break of day;
At noon release another leaf;
One from our trees, one far away.
Retard the sun with gentle mist;
Enchant the land with amethyst.
Slow, slow!
For the grapes’ sake, if they were all,
Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,
Whose clustered fruit must else be lost—
For the grapes’ sake along the wall.