[1276] A Dream Pang

Guest poem sent in by Kevin Litzinger <Litz9669@>

I had withdrawn in forest, and my song
Was swallowed up in leaves that blew away;
And to the forest edge you came one day
(this was my dream) and looked and pondered long,
But did not enter, though the wish was strong:
You shook your pensive head as who should say,
"I dare not--too far in his footsteps stray--
He must seek me would he undo the wrong."

Not far, but near, I stood and saw it all,
Behind low boughs the trees let down outside;
And the sweet pang it cost me not to call
and tell you that I saw does still abide.
But 'tis not true that thus I dwelt aloof,
For the wood wakes, and you are here for proof.

	-- Robert Frost

I've been wanting to submit this poem for quite some time, because it means
so much to me, and then a few days ago I saw a Robert Frost poem and was
upset because I wanted to submit a Frost poem. Well, I decided to submit
anyway. This poem is very poignant to me in so many ways: like the last
Frost poem [Poem #1272], he uses nature as a metaphor for life, or, as I
believe in this poem, his dream life or daydreams. But this poem displays
more of the dream of love.

It has a man, pining for a woman, guiltily:
"He must seek me would he undo the wrong."

It shows the fear I think almost all men have of women, and this may be the
same vice versa, but Ive never been a woman. But I think we are generally
afraid of women, and we simply overcome it, and that's what his final line
is meant to me.

"For the wood wakes, and you are here for proof"

The dream of the love of a woman that we fear, yet desire as well, is
fulfilled, and the woman is there to prove it.

--Kevin Litzinger


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From: Nikhil Sethi <nsethi@>

To me it seems that the dream is NOT fulfilled in the end. Because the
woman comes but he does not call out to her, and she does not go to him.

From: Nikhil Sethi <nsethi@>

To me it seems that the dream is NOT fulfilled in the end. Because the
woman comes but he does not call out to her, and she does not go to him.

From: Alkemygirl@

Maybe she does not go to him yet, because she is waiting--
for him!

"He must seek me, would he undo the wrong"

She too is afraid.  Very much so.
Nevertheless, she waits--
for him.
So the dream is not over.

From: "Shailja Sharma" <shailja_shg@>

To me this dream is fulfilled
because even though , she does not come to him and he does not call her
...they both FELT each other , felt their presence ...and in love , that
is the most important thing ..to be able to feel...

From: Litz9669@

But the Dream must then be fulfilled based on the last line.

"For the wood wakes," The dream is over.

"and you are here for proof." She is there to prove that the dream of her 
once being separate from him is gone. She is [here] for proof.