Poetic Memorial by Robert Frost

Ever since poetry originated, poets have faced the emotion of grief. Such a personal emotion has mystified and overwhelmed the greatest of minds and the greatest of poets.

These are two of the most recognized lines for persons dealing with grief. These lines set the tone for Frost's tribute. Since published, "Reluctance" or variations of the poem have been used often to convey sincere feelings of grief.


Reluctance
by Robert Frost

Out through the fields and the woods
And over the walls I have wended;
I have climbed the hills of view
And looked at the world and descended;
I have come by the highway home,
And lo, it is ended.

The leaves are all dead on the ground,
Save those that the oak is keeping
To ravel them one by one
And let them go scraping and creeping
Out over the crusted snow,
When others are sleeping.

And the dead leaves lie huddled and still,
No longer blown hither and thither;
The last lone aster is gone;
The flowers of the witch-hazel wither;
The heart is still aching to seek,
But the feet question 'Whither?'

Ah, when to the heart of man
Was it ever less than a treason
To go with the drift of things,
To yield with a grace to reason,
And bow and accept the end
Of a love or a season?