Nothing Gold Can Stay

Robert FrostContemplative

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.

Robert Frost

SourceLicence:Public domain (US, unrenewed)

Mood:: Contemplative
Topics:: transience, nature, dawn, leaf

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Summary

Robert Frost packs a whole reflection into eight short lines. The poem begins with a close look at early spring: the first new leaves are not green but gold, a color too delicate to last. A leaf starts like a flower, then within an hour it becomes just another leaf.

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Nature’s first is gold,

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Nothing Gold Can Stay

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