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, 1923

The poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay” seems to speak to people in many ways, reminding them of how time seems to go by too fast. As that time leaves, the poem seems to resonate with them even more. In this short commentary I reflect on this poem and how it connects with my experience practicing Soto Zen Buddhism.

The first line, “Nature’s first green is gold.” refers to before growing up, the gold of childhood, the wonders of it. The way, when you're a child, everything seems brighter, and with more energy, including you. You haven't experienced the pain of loss, change, deep depression, for that is all kept away from you. You're the protected jewel, sheltered in your gold bubble.

Line two, “Her hardest hue to hold.” “Hold” could mean many things, such as the holding captive of mother nature to the dawn light, as if it were her child, trying and grasping at it, but as the poem says, this can only go on for so long before the darkness encases her.

Line three, “Her early leaf’s a flower.” Again showing the impermanence of childhood, the flower being the representative of innocence, and the leaf being adulthood. Even though the poem seems to talk backwards in time, that’s because the person reading will be in remorse, looking back in time, so the poem mirrors that.

Line four, “but only so an hour.” I like to take a more directly Buddhist approach to this line, as many Buddhist texts talk about the importance of impermanence. Nothing will be the same forever, and everything will always move along, even if you can’t catch up, everything will always be in some kind of motion.

Line five, “Then leaf subsides to leaf.” Like I said before, how the poem seems to talk backwards in time, this is when time catches up, when adulthood is now, and childhood is the past. The moment when you realize this is when “leaf subsides to leaf.”

Line six, “so Eden sank to grief.” This refers to the paradise of The Garden of God, also known as Eden in the Christian tradition. A place where life is abundant, and where the story of Adam and Eve took place. The poem talks about this because when you grow up, your paradise is gone, along with the innocence that comes with it. You are banned from ever entering this place again, like Adam and Eve were. As time goes on, no matter how hard you try to hold on to it. This is also about how when some people grow up, they lose faith in their religion, and how they want that rock of support back, in some way or another.

Line seven, “So dawn goes down to day.” Again, showing the impermanence of life. Impermanence (Anicca in Sanskrit) is a foundational concept in Buddhism that all phenomena — including our bodies and thoughts — are subject to change, decay, and death. Nothing has a permanent, solid core. The truth of impermanence is the foundation of Buddhism and the starting place of the path to enlightenment. I think this sums up the poem up perfectly, in that it captures what the poem is really about.

Finally, line eight, “Nothing gold can stay.” The perfect ending, showing the truth of impermanence, how growing up changes you, and remembrance of the person hidden under the layers of life.

The more I read it the more it speaks to me. It connects me to the scared child under this facade I carry. Because of impermanence, it forces all of us to grow up. Hidden beneath the deep, deep surface, is the real you. You may not even realize it, but you're there.