Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbour know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
"Stay where you are until our backs are turned!"
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
Oh, just another kind of out-door game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, "Good fences make good neighbours."
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
"Why do they make good neighbours? Isn't it
Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offence.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down." I could say "Elves" to him,
But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather
He said it for himself. I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me,
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father's saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, "Good fences make good neighbours."
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21 comments:
This one needs multiple readings, no? I love a good wall and I love a good poem. I especially love a good poem about a wall, any wall.
Oh my god, you are telepathic, Ramon. I was thinking about this poem last night
Even the Berlin Wall, Bob?
Squib - we must be linked souls.
Or drunks with too much time on their hands.
I was thinking of that last line last night and I was thinking of changing it to:
Distance makes good neighbours
And the same goes for family
Especially the Berlin Wall.
The German for "the wall" is "die mauer"
I don't know if this helps any.
I suspect not.
Hmmm. Deep. I shall further contemplate this one as I go buy beer and food for weekend merriment.
If Frost had lived in an apartment building I reckon he'd be heartily pro-walls. I often wish for an orchard betwixt me and my neighbours; in the absence of which I'll happily settle for a pile of stones to peg off my balcony.
Bob, any chance you know someone who puts in residential Berlin Walls?
Bob, any chance you know someone who puts in residential Berlin Walls
Contact the Israeli Embassy.
Something there is that doesn't love a neighbour, eh Kettle.
Ha ha, Mr E!
Ach Ramon, I share a front door with five neighbours: three are great at communal living, but the fourth is an Australian rock 'star's' sister who seems to be trying to cultivate the whole 'don't you know who I'm related to' thing, and the fifth guy, Rick from number 10, has microwave popcorn for dinner each night which he always burns and which always sets off the fire alarm in the stair well.
Damn this whole free will thing where people get to choose where they live. Bring in the philosopher kings, I say!
Where is the wedding post?
Where??
I want to know if he made it with one of his cousins.
Why would my cousins be at my niece's wedding? You'd have to be a pretty close family to have your parents' cousins at a wedding. Or Greek.
I'm waiting for Dad to email me photos...
Does this mean I have to post photos of my cat again while we wait?
How I spent my Weekend.
By Samuel Beckett.
Saturday 9:30 a.m.
Phone Rings:
Hello?
It's your mother.
Hi Mum.
I just thought I'd give you a call to remind you about dinner tonight.
Sorry Mum, but something really important has come up, so I can't make it.
But we're having a lamb roast!
I know, I'm really sorry but this guy on the Internet is going to post a story about a wedding in Adelaide, so I'll be sticking close to the computer, he could post any time now.
Your father is going to be so disappointed especially after you completely forgot about Father's Day.
Sorry Mum, I have to go.
Bye then.
Bye.
*click*
Saturday 2:30 p.m.
Phone Rings.
Hello?
Hi E, It's Julia!
Hi, I thought you were going to be stuck in Canberra again this weekend.
Changed my mind, Kev's taking my shift. Anyway, the reason I called was that Tim and I have decided that it's time to open the '63 Grange, and we thought you might like to join us, say around 7:30?
Sorry Jules, but I dare not leave the computer at the moment.
Oh shit, sorry I completely forgot, it's that Perseus wedding thing isn't it?
Yeah.
As he posted yet?
No not yet, it should happen soon.
Okay, well I'll let you get back to it.
Thanks, say hi to Tim for me, bye now.
Will do, bye.
*click*
Saturday 8:30 p.m.
Phone Rings.
Hello?
It is Achmed calling.
Hi.
Everything is prepared, all of the packages have arrived at their destinations and our brethren are standing by waiting for you to give the word.
Look, sorry, I'm kinda tied up right now. Something really important is about to happen.
I know, that's why I'm calling you. It will be a glorious day for all the true believers!
Where did you hear about the wedding?
Wedding, what wedding?
You know, Adelaide.....
I'm sorry, but I think I have called the wrong number. Peace be upon you.
*click*
I'm glad to see Beckett has taken my advice and made his writing make sense for once in his life
*applause*
A little mood music.
Can we haz lolcats, Ramon?
The suspense is killing me.
I only haz "fukorf cats", Squib.
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