So, it's been a few weeks since I returned from Rome, and so lately, I have been writing a long document for my oblate brothers and sisters reflecting on that experience. When I have it finished, and someone shows me how, I will post it here.
So lately, I've had this poem rattling around in my head... by Robert Frost.
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.
JD introduced me to this poem, and since it is fall, and the golden leaves are falling at an alarming rate, this poem has been flying around the borders of my mind. I know that Robert Frost is speaking of Spring in this poem, but still as I watch the leaves reveal their true golden nature, and then watch them fall, this poem seems almost doubly true.
Did you know that leaves are not actually green? The come in all sorts of colors that are only revealed at death. The tree stops supplying the leaves with water, scar tissue forms, photosynthesis ceases, and the leaves start to die, revealing what color they really are.
In the same way Eden (mentioned in the poem) revealed alot about the character of God. In the moments after the fall, we see violence in Adam, manipulation in Eve, and in God we see hope. He could have destroyed them, he could have punished but instead, he explains what has happened, and promises redemption. The first action of God, was to clothe them and remove part of their shame.
God reveled his character as "Eden sank to grief".
1 comment:
thanks michaelangelo-- i wrote a poem you may have seen on my blog recently called-- between seasons-- in which i was thinking of this robert frost poem you cite here only i was trying to write its cousin poem for the fall season. but i really do love that nature's first green is gold poem-- it's powerful and continues to release meaning every time i read it.
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