{"id":2044,"date":"2007-12-03T12:25:29","date_gmt":"2007-12-03T19:25:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/mom\/?p=2044"},"modified":"2009-11-20T12:27:07","modified_gmt":"2009-11-20T19:27:07","slug":"christmas-trees-a-christmas-circular-letter-robert-frost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/mom\/?p=2044","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Trees (A Christmas Circular Letter) – Robert Frost"},"content":{"rendered":"

Christmas Trees (A Christmas Circular Letter)<\/span><\/h3>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/h3>\n

The city had withdrawn into itself <\/span><\/p>\n

And left at last the country to the country; <\/span><\/p>\n

When between whirls of snow not come to lie <\/span><\/p>\n

And whirls of foliage not yet laid, there drove <\/span><\/p>\n

A stranger to our yard, who looked the city, <\/span><\/p>\n

Yet did in country fashion in that there <\/span><\/p>\n

He sat and waited till he drew us out <\/span><\/p>\n

A-buttoning coats to ask him who he was. <\/span><\/p>\n

He proved to be the city come again <\/span><\/p>\n

To look for something it had left behind <\/span><\/p>\n

And could not do without and keep its Christmas. <\/span><\/p>\n

He asked if I would sell my Christmas trees; <\/span><\/p>\n

My woods–the young fir balsams like a place <\/span><\/p>\n

Where houses all are churches and have spires. <\/span><\/p>\n

I hadn’t thought of them as Christmas Trees. <\/span><\/p>\n

I doubt if I was tempted for a moment <\/span><\/p>\n

To sell them off their feet to go in cars <\/span><\/p>\n

And leave the slope behind the house all bare, <\/span><\/p>\n

Where the sun shines now no warmer than the moon. <\/span><\/p>\n

I’d hate to have them know it if I was. <\/span><\/p>\n

Yet more I’d hate to hold my trees except <\/span><\/p>\n

As others hold theirs or refuse for them, <\/span><\/p>\n

Beyond the time of profitable growth, <\/span><\/p>\n

The trial by market everything must come to. <\/span><\/p>\n

I dallied so much with the thought of selling. <\/span><\/p>\n

Then whether from mistaken courtesy <\/span><\/p>\n

And fear of seeming short of speech, or whether <\/span><\/p>\n

From hope of hearing good of what was mine, <\/span><\/p>\n

I said, “There aren’t enough to be worth while.” <\/span><\/p>\n

“I could soon tell how many they would cut, <\/span><\/p>\n

You let me look them over.” <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“You could look. <\/span><\/p>\n

But don’t expect I’m going to let you have them.” <\/span><\/p>\n

Pasture they spring in, some in clumps too close <\/span><\/p>\n

That lop each other of boughs, but not a few <\/span><\/p>\n

Quite solitary and having equal boughs <\/span><\/p>\n

All round and round. The latter he nodded “Yes” to, <\/span><\/p>\n

Or paused to say beneath some lovelier one, <\/span><\/p>\n

With a buyer’s moderation, “That would do.” <\/span><\/p>\n

I thought so too, but wasn’t there to say so. <\/span><\/p>\n

We climbed the pasture on the south, crossed over, <\/span><\/p>\n

And came down on the north. <\/span><\/p>\n

He said, “A thousand.” <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“A thousand Christmas trees!–at what apiece?” <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He felt some need of softening that to me: <\/span><\/p>\n

“A thousand trees would come to thirty dollars.” <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Then I was certain I had never meant <\/span><\/p>\n

To let him have them. Never show surprise! <\/span><\/p>\n

But thirty dollars seemed so small beside <\/span><\/p>\n

The extent of pasture I should strip, three cents <\/span><\/p>\n

(For that was all they figured out apiece), <\/span><\/p>\n

Three cents so small beside the dollar friends <\/span><\/p>\n

I should be writing to within the hour <\/span><\/p>\n

Would pay in cities for good trees like those, <\/span><\/p>\n

Regular vestry-trees whole Sunday Schools <\/span><\/p>\n

Could hang enough on to pick off enough. <\/span><\/p>\n

A thousand Christmas trees I didn’t know I had! <\/span><\/p>\n

Worth three cents more to give away than sell, <\/span><\/p>\n

As may be shown by a simple calculation. <\/span><\/p>\n

Too bad I couldn’t lay one in a letter. <\/span><\/p>\n

I can’t help wishing I could send you one, <\/span><\/p>\n

In wishing you herewith a Merry Christmas. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Robert Frost<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christmas Trees (A Christmas Circular Letter) \u00c2\u00a0 The city had withdrawn into itself And left at last the country to the country; When between whirls of snow not come to lie And whirls of foliage not yet laid, there drove A stranger to our yard, who looked the city, Yet did in country fashion in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/mom\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2044"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/mom\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/mom\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/mom\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/mom\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2044"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/mom\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2049,"href":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/mom\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2044\/revisions\/2049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/mom\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/mom\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/mom\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}