Take a Moment

It was cold last week.  The first morning frost had arrived.  The wind had a biting chill I hadn’t felt in a while.  Here we go again I thought.  Dark mornings, and dark evenings, winter is sneaking up on us once again. 

I never really understood poetry when I was in school.  Poems always seemed a bit mysterious, and I’m more of a practical and logical thinker, so trying to understand the “deeper meaning” of poetry wasn’t worth my time when I was more interested in hitting a baseball or shooting baskets.  And as I’ve gotten older, I’d say that I’ve learned to appreciate poetry a little bit, but I’m not sure I really understand it that well.  I’m too busy working on spreadsheets.

Robert Frost is maybe the one poet that I’ve learned to most appreciate.  And it’s probably because he was raised in New England not far from where I live.  He writes about cold winters and snowy evenings, something I’ve experienced enough growing up in Maine and now living in New Hampshire.  Some day I’d like to try out living in a warmer climate, but I guess I still have “miles to go before I sleep”, or before I snowbird with all those old folks down south.  But why rush it?

“The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.”

You may recognize this famous final stanza from Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.”  This one resonates with me.  The thought of the peace of nature in those woods and wanting to stop for a moment to inhale that cold fresh air, but knowing that we have to keep going, after all, we have promises to keep, commitments that were made, meetings to attend, responsibilities to fulfill…and we have all those miles to go before we can sleep.  Life keeps moving my friends, time seems to accelerate the older we get, and it certainly doesn’t stop for anyone.  Take a moment to stop, breathe it in, and be still in the moment. 

“In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.”

– Robert Frost