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
I first encountered this poem when I was 18 or 19. I did not study it in my English class, but in a Psychology class. I did not understand it much, but I did remember being able to compare it to this song, because the sentiment seemed similar to me. (I was having a 70’s music moment)
Last month, I read The Outsiders and became acquainted with the poem all over again, and oh what a joy to see it. To take a moment to experience it again.
It was also great to have finally read The Outsiders. It’s a great book, a little disturbing, but you realize that no matter how different your life is from someone else’s, there are some things that as humans we simply cannot do without. I had never read it or seen the movie. From reading Fangirl, I knew one line in the book – “Stay gold Ponyboy”. So in finally reading the book and the poem, and listening to the song in all of their contexts, I have a question for you –
Knowing that all of life decays – should we be striving to stay gold? or should we be putting more effort into enjoying the gold of life while we have it?
