[Ernst A Kipling]

BANNED POSTBANNED POSTBANNED POST"A Minor Bird

I have wished a bird would fly away,
And not sing by my house all day;

Have clapped my hands at him from the door
When it seemed as if I could bear no more.

The fault must partly have been in me;
The bird was not to blame for his key.

And of course there must be something wrong
In wanting to silence any song."

--Frost

[Margaret Moore]

Ernst,

Interesting to reflect on the possible symbolism. One can imagine that someone like Frost who suffered from not infrequent bouts of severe depression might at times wish to protect himself from the sad stories of others.
Margaret.

[Janet Kenny]

Ernst that has been a favourite of mine for some time. My reading is quite different from Margaret's. It is to do with having time for the evanescent and appreciating it before it disappears. And on another but equal plane, it simply means what it says. Superb.
Janet

[Richard Wakefield]

A lot of art comes from those fleeting moments when the world outside seems to echo what's inside of us, else what's a metaphor for? A lot of loneliness and alienation expresses itself in those deep and all-too unfleeting moments when the world outside seems to have nothing to do with what's inside. Sometimes a real artist manages to make something out of both kinds of moments simultaneously. Call it a momentary stay.
I love the characteristic Frostian phrases "I have wished" and then later "Have clapped" (so like "Acquainted with the Night") and "Of course" and the almost plaintive or self-accusatory "there must." They sound conversational, but like the best conversation they reflect the turns of a mind reaching this way and that.
RPW