Tuesday, March 09, 2004

I can see the mountains shining days ahead (Part 4)

In the Bird Sanctuary, in some places, there are groves of tall white pines that shade low thickets of mountain laurel, and there are stands of deciduous trees like maple, oak, and birch in others. This time of year, of course, there are no leaves on these trees, and houses and other buildings nearby can be plainly seen through the chaos of thin branches. But if you look within that open anarchy, you will see an occasional goldfinch. It’s not that plain a bird, although it's not gold just yet. It still wears its winter shade of green, but soon, the feathers of the male will turn bright yellow and all summer long give lie to this brilliant Robert Frost lyrical observation.

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.

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