By Robert Frost
The farmhouse lingers, though averse to square
With the new city street it has to wear
A number in. But what about the brook
That held the house as in an elbow-crook?
I ask as one who knew the brook, its strength
And impulse, having dipped a finger length
And made it leap my knuckle, having tossed
A flower to try its currents where they crossed.
The meadow grass could be cemented down
From growing under pavements of a town;
The apple trees be sent to hearth-stone flame.
Is water wood to serve a brook the same?
How else dispose of an immortal force
No longer needed? Staunch it at its source
With cinder loads dumped down? The brook was thrown
Deep in a sewer dungeon under stone
In fetid darkness still to live and run --
And all for nothing it had ever done
Except forget to go in fear perhaps.
No one would know except for ancient maps
That such a brook ran water. But I wonder
If from its being kept forever under,
The thoughts may not have risen that so keep
This new-built city from both work and sleep.
--------
I managed not to get a migraine during the hurricane despite the pressure changes, but the combination of the temperature changes, inhaling someone's cigarette smoke, and having eaten way too much sugar yesterday are making me cross-eyed tonight, so I will keep this short. My morning mostly involved picking up Adam and taking him to the orthodontist for the first full check-up since his wisdom teeth came out, though it wasn't his usual orthodontist, who's unable to get a flight back to the region after leaving on vacation before Sandy arrived. They're thinking about putting him back in a bottom retainer but want to see him again in three months to see whether the teeth are shifting or just adjusted post-surgery.
I walked around the neighborhood twice, once to look at the Halloween decorations before everyone took them down and once into the woods to see the deer -- today the other family appeared, the one with two fawns, a doe and a stag, though they flipped up their tails and galloped away when they saw me. We had Mexican food for dinner for the Día de los Muertos and watched Beauty and the Beast, probably my favorite new show of the season so I wish the ratings would stop dropping, and Elementary, which has already been picked up for a full season so I wish they'd let Watson be clever more often but I'll certainly keep watching. Here are some photos from the C&O Canal before the storm last weekend. Best wishes to everyone dealing with power and water issues!
No comments:
Post a Comment