Robert Frost (1874-1963)
Putting in the Seed
1You come to fetch me from my work to-night
2When supper's on the table, and we'll see
3If I can leave off burying the white
4Soft petals fallen from the apple tree.
5(Soft petals, yes, but not so barren quite,
6Mingled with these, smooth bean and wrinkled pea;)
7And go along with you ere you lose sight
8Of what you came for and become like me,
9Slave to a springtime passion for the earth.
10How Love burns through the Putting in the Seed
11On through the watching for that early birth
12When, just as the soil tarnishes with weed,
13The sturdy seedling with arched body comes
14Shouldering its way and shedding the earth crumbs.
Online text copyright © 2009, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.
Original text: Robert Frost, Mountain Interval (New York: Henry Holt, 1921), p. 32. PS 3511 R94 M6 Robarts Library.
First publication date:
1916
RPO poem editor: Ian Lancashire
RP edition: RPO 1998.
Recent editing: 2:2002/1/16
Rhyme: ababababcdcdee
Other poems by Robert Frost
