Nothing Gold Can Stay

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.

                --Robert Frost

Every spring for a couple of days when the leaves are first appearing on the trees this poem rings in my head.  I drove around my neighborhood today and tried to capture the golden moment.  It's so beautiful -- both the trees and the poem.

Now I should probably end this post right now and allow you to think I am intelligent and artistic and that the scads of poetry my English Professor parents have recited to me over the years really impacted me and stuck with me-- but, well, this is HonestlyJen.  So, here is a glimpse into the crazy stuff that really goes on in my brain and why I fondly recall this poem.

Every year as this poem comes to mind with the golden trees what also comes to mind is the movie "The Outsiders" from the 80's.  Nothing Gold Can Stay  is the poem recited by Ponyboy (C. Thomas Howell) to Johnny (Ralph Macchio).  I remember thinking this was the greatest movie ever -- And what a cast -- Tom Cruise, Emilo Esteves, C. Thomas Howell, Ralph Macchio, Patrick Swayze, Matt Dillon, Rob Lowe -- It was every young girls dream...

If you want a taste from the 80's -- I found a clip of this poem being recited in the movie.

Watch it on YouTube

And then, remember, at the end of the movie as Johnny lays dying he says to Ponyboy...."Stay golden Ponyboy."  I tell you ... that's good stuff.  I think I'll be renting The Outsiders again soon.