Nothing Gold Can Stay

The Greek philosopher Heraclitus once said something to the effect that “change is the only constant in life.” And isn’t it so? Relationships come and go; societal norms shift; the economy thrives then stagnates; diseases strike then abate; and all the while our bodies and minds grow stronger, then weaker, and eventually give out altogether.

While some changes bring loss, others bring gifts. I can’t count the number of times during the past year when I’ve thought how wonderful it is that a weather pattern will eventually blow over, or that a grueling day will soon come to an end.

Robert Frost’s poem, “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” both celebrates and mourns the constant change that is an inevitable part of life.

I’ve come to suspect that he wrote his poem with the trillium plant in mind. Although it's only the beginning of July now, this understated forest flower is long gone, having visited our world for but a brief moment in early spring.  If you didn’t spot it then, you’ll have to wait another year for the chance to enjoy its single bloom. I love the trillium not in spite of its ephemerality, but because of it—because it reminds me that nothing, no nothing at all, can stay.

Nothing Gold Can Stay

by Robert Frost

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.