Miles To Go

“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost 

Whose woods these are I think I know. 

His house is in the village though; 

He will not see me stopping here 

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

 

My little horse must think it queer 

To stop without a farmhouse near 

Between the woods and frozen lake 

The darkest evening of the year. 

He gives his harness bells a shake 

To ask if there is some mistake. 

The only other sound’s the sweep 

Of easy wind and downy flake. 

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.

As I get older, I tend to reflect more on poems.  Nostalgia?  Wiser?   More insightful?  Perhaps a little of each.  I never used to pay any attention to most poems, or to understand them, but I do get this one by Frost.

According to one reference: Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening is one of Robert Frost’s finest poems. It was written in 1922 and was published in 1923 in his volume “New Hampshire”. Robert Frost won Pulitzer Prize and vast recognition as an important American Writer for this collection. He wrote this poem while living in the village of Franconia in New Hampshire. It seems that he was inspired to write the poem Stopping by Wood on a Snowy Evening by watching the woods near the village, and the village mentioned in the poem is probably Franconia. Frost claimed that he wrote this poem in a single sitting one night, though it was a very tough task to do so.

Today is just a few days past the “darkest evening of the year.”  Therefore, I repeat this poem, and I realize that we all have much to do before we sleep – before we die.  But in the meantime, we must stop to view the beauty of creation such as snowy woods on a Cape Cod winter evening.  Our woods are lovely, dark, and deep, although perhaps not quite as dark and deep as New Hampshire’s Franconia wilderness and the Mt. Washington region. Nevertheless, we must stop and look.

We all have promises to keep, including the ones unspoken.  Some are to love our neighbors; to forgive those who have trespassed against us – who have hurt us, especially during this Christmas season; and to be truthful while rejecting lies.  The New Year approaches, and we have miles to go before we sleep.

Deacon David Pierce