[New-Poetry] Frost's "The Impulse"

[David Graham]

The final section of Frost's poem "The Hill Wife""

THE IMPULSE
 
It was too lonely for her there,
  And too wild,    
And since there were but two of them,
  And no child,    
 
And work was little in the house,
  She was free,    
And followed where he furrowed field,
  Or felled tree.  
 
She rested on a log and tossed
  The fresh chips, 
With a song only to herself
  On her lips.     
 
And once she went to break a bough
  Of black alder.  
She strayed so far she scarcely heard
  When he called her‹
 
And didn¹t answer‹didn¹t speak‹
  Or return.       
She stood, and then she ran and hid
  In the fern.     
 
He never found her, though he looked
  Everywhere,      
And he asked at her mother¹s house
  Was she there.   
 
Sudden and swift and light as that
  The ties gave,   
And he learned of finalities
  Besides the grave.
 
--Robert Frost


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David Graham
grahamd at ripon.edu
Home Page:
http://www.ripon.edu/academics/faculty/GrahamD/index.html
Poetry Library:
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