An Apology to Robert Frost and His Little Horse (Poetry Marathon 2022 – Hour 2)
On the darkest evening of the year *
In the cold New Hampshire air
Robert Frost (no pun intended)
Was on his way somewhere
With his little horse and wagon
When he stopped to admire
The snow falling into a panoramic glow
Creating spots of light
On this darkest night
The days would be getting longer tomorrow he thought
But the cold would continue
Beyond the winter solstice
As the crunch of the snow
Turned to the slippery hardness of ice
And then he reminded himself
He had someplace to be
Someplace to go
A few days before Christmas
He still had presents to buy
And send
He had business to conduct
Before the year ended
His little horse
With whom he often shared discourse
Was confused
He knew Robert
Would often stop to smell the roses
And share an apple or two
But stop and admire the snow
Was not something the little horse
Could abide as he did not like
To slide through the ice
So he shook his bridle
To wake up Robert from his reverie
To remind him he had chores to complete
Before he could nod off to sleep.
* From Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost
Love this, having lived in both NH and VT, where early snow eventually turns to ice that lasts too long. Poor horse. Nice!
Thank you. When we are in school, this is one of the poems we have to memorize. There is more to this poem than we think about when we are kids, as we know so much more.
I really like the image of the little horse actually in control of the poet!
It was one of those things that I saw in Robert Frost’s poem as I read it now. What was the horse thinking as it shook the harness?
I also chose the line about the little horse but went in a very different direction.