Nothing Gold Can Stay
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 FrostThe poem went through a few early drafts. link I know what Frost meant by the "first green is gold" -- it's that golden seen on tree limb buds before they burst.
The second hardest hue to hold is the yellow-green of new shoots given by nascent chloroplasts which later darken into stems and leaves.
Chlorine gas, anathema to plant and animal life, got its name because of its pale green hue. Another paradox.
6 comments:
Nothing gold can stay
Except for gold itself;
When all plans gang agley
Make sure gold's on your shelf.
I think we're saying the same thing re limb buds, but I think the gold referred to would be the single, probably, day that the field looks gold, before it turns that lovely bright, pale green. That is, the yellow of a sprouted seed.
lol ricpic. Pretty good :)
@deborah: You say macro, I say micro. It's how we roll.
Are you seeking opinions? If one of the purposes of a poem is to invite rather than roll right or wrong, I'm hoping so.
My take on the gold mentioned, what I anticipate each spring, is the wondrous chartreuse present in the tender new leaves, after the buds have burst, when the spaces that were left empty and bare with the Fall are once again filled with an ebullient yellow greenness that doesn't last but makes for a Grand Opening. From there the leaves harden to a firmer green that stays fresh until summer's heat turns them olive right before the other Big Display.
Gold is a dense, soft, malleable and ductile metal with a bright yellow color and luster, the properties of which remain without tarnishing when exposed to air or water. Chemically, gold is a transition metal
Whether Frost knew it was a transition metal or not, matters not, as his understanding of transition and the transitory comes through clear.
Whether Frost knew it was a transition metal or not, matters not, as his understanding of transition and the transitory comes through clear.
That's brilliant -- like the metal!
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