North of Boston Robert Frost (desktop ebook reader TXT) đ
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- Author: Robert Frost
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âWere there no others?â
âThere were four or five.
I knew you wouldnât let me pick them all.â
âI wouldnâtâ âso I wouldnât. Youâre the girl!
You see Anne has her lesson learned by heart.â
âI wanted there should be some there next year.â
âOf course you did. You left the rest for seed,
And for the backwoods woodchuck. Youâre the girl!
A Ramâs Horn orchid seedpod for a woodchuck
Sounds something like. Better than farmerâs beans
To a discriminating appetite,
Though the Ramâs Horn is seldom to be had
In bushel lotsâ âdoesnât come on the market.
But, Anne, Iâm troubled; have you told me all?
Youâre hiding something. Thatâs as bad as lying.
You ask this lawyer man. And itâs not safe
With a lawyer at hand to find you out.
Nothing is hidden from some people, Anne.
You donât tell me that where you found a Ramâs Horn
You didnât find a Yellow Ladyâs Slipper.
What did I tell you? What? Iâd blush, I would.
Donât you defend yourself. If it was there,
Where is it now, the Yellow Ladyâs Slipper?â
âWell, waitâ âitâs commonâ âitâs too common.â
âCommon?
The Purple Ladyâs Slipperâs commoner.â
âI didnât bring a Purple Ladyâs Slipper
To Youâ âto you I meanâ âtheyâre both too common.â
The lawyer gave a laugh among his papers
As if with some idea that she had scored.
âIâve broken Anne of gathering bouquets.
Itâs not fair to the child. It canât be helped though:
Pressed into service means pressed out of shape.
Somehow Iâll make it right with herâ âsheâll see.
Sheâs going to do my scouting in the field,
Over stone walls and all along a wood
And by a river bank for water flowers,
The floating Heart, with small leaf like a heart,
And at the sinus under water a fist
Of little fingers all kept down but one,
And that thrust up to blossom in the sun
As if to say, âYou! Youâre the Heartâs desire.â
Anne has a way with flowers to take the place
Of that sheâs lost: she goes down on one knee
And lifts their faces by the chin to hers
And says their names, and leaves them where they are.â
The lawyer wore a watch the case of which
Was cunningly devised to make a noise
Like a small pistol when he snapped it shut
At such a time as this. He snapped it now.
âWell, Anne, go, dearie. Our affair will wait.
The lawyer man is thinking of his train.
He wants to give me lots and lots of money
Before he goes, because I hurt myself,
And it may take him I donât know how long.
But put our flowers in water first. Will, help her:
The pitcherâs too full for her. Thereâs no cup?
Just hook them on the inside of the pitcher.
Now run.â âGet out your documents! You see
I have to keep on the good side of Anne.
Iâm a great boy to think of number one.
And you canât blame me in the place Iâm in.
Who will take care of my necessities
Unless I do?â
âA pretty interlude,â
The lawyer said. âIâm sorry, but my trainâ â
Luckily terms are all agreed upon.
You only have to sign your name. Rightâ âthere.â
âYou, Will, stop making faces. Come round here
Where you canât make them. What is it you want?
Iâll put you out with Anne. Be good or go.â
âYou donât mean you will sign that thing unread?â
âMake yourself useful then, and read it for me.
Isnât it something I have seen before?â
âYouâll find it is. Let your friend look at it.â
âYes, but all that takes time, and Iâm as much
In haste to get it over with as you.
But read it, read it. Thatâs right, draw the curtain:
Half the time I donât know whatâs troubling me.â â
What do you say, Will? Donât you be a fool,
You! crumpling folkses legal documents.
Out with it if youâve any real objection.â
âFive hundred dollars!â
âWhat would you think right?â
âA thousand wouldnât be a cent too much;
You know it, Mr. Lawyer. The sin is
Accepting anything before he knows
Whether heâs ever going to walk again.
It smells to me like a dishonest trick.â
âI thinkâ âI thinkâ âfrom what I heard todayâ â
And saw myselfâ âhe would be ill-advisedâ ââ
âWhat did you hear, for instance?â Willis said.
âNow the place where the accident occurredâ ââ
The Broken One was twisted in his bed.
âThis is between you two apparently.
Where I come in is what I want to know.
You stand up to it like a pair of cocks.
Go outdoors if you want to fight. Spare me.
When you come back, Iâll have the papers signed.
Will pencil do? Then, please, your fountain pen.
One of you hold my head up from the pillow.â
Willis flung off the bed. âI wash my handsâ â
Iâm no matchâ âno, and donât pretend to beâ ââ
The lawyer gravely capped his fountain pen.
âYouâre doing the wise thing: you wonât regret it.
Weâre very sorry for you.â
Willis sneered:
âWhoâs we?â âsome stockholders in Boston?
Iâll go outdoors, by gad, and wonât come back.â
âWillis, bring Anne back with you when you come.
Yes. Thanks for caring. Donât mind Will: heâs savage.
He thinks you ought to pay me for my flowers.
You donât know what I mean about the flowers.
Donât stop to try to now. Youâll miss your train.
Good-bye.â He flung his arms around his face.
Out walking in the frozen swamp one grey day
I paused and said, âI will turn back from here.
No, I will go on fartherâ âand we shall see.â
The hard snow held me, save where now and then
One foot went down. The view was all in lines
Straight up and down of tall slim trees
Too much alike to mark or name a place by
So as to say for certain I was here
Or somewhere else: I was just far from home.
A small bird flew before me. He was careful
To put a tree between us when he lighted,
And say no word to tell me who he was
Who was so foolish as to think what he thought.
He thought that I was after him for a featherâ â
The white one in his tail; like one who takes
Everything said as personal to himself.
One flight out sideways would have undeceived him.
And then there was a pile of wood for which
I forgot him and let his little fear
Carry him off the way I might have gone,
Without so much as wishing him good-night.
He went behind it to make his last stand.
It was a cord of maple, cut and split
And piledâ âand measured,
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