April is National Poetry Month. In years past we donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to causes surrounding Poetry Month events (poetry slams and literacy and such) and I traveled the country evangelizing for the cause of having fun with words and language. This year, I forgot all about it until today. These days the zeitgeist seems to be all about mere survival; things like art and poetry feel like frivolities. They're not, of course; they're as essential to human life as love and friendship. Anyway, in honor of this time of year and of Poetry Month, I submit to you this Robert Frost ditty that is a great one to memorize with your kids, or just for yourself. Nice one to have in your brain's back pocket when you see those first budding trees:
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.