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A Time To Talk
- 01/02/10
- 10
Today I encountered, “A Time To Talk,” a little poem by Robert Frost. I’d suggest that, unlike some poetry, it needs little explanation. A little reflection wouldn’t hurt, though.
When a friend calls to me from the road
And slows his horse to a meaning walk,
I don’t stand still and look around
On all the hills I haven’t hoed,
And shout from where I am, What is it?
No, not as there is a time to talk.
I thrust my hoe in the mellow ground,
Blade-end up and five feet tall,
And plod: I go up to the stone wall
For a friendly visit.
I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a husband to Aileen and a father to three young children. I worship and serve as a pastor at 
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Comments (10)
My daughter is studying Robert Frost this year for school. She loves his poetry and this is one of her favorites.
Good for all us to hear now and again.
I love this peom because we get alot from people as we just give them a little of time to talk.
My biggest struggle is selfish ambition. This flies int he face of that.
This has always been my favorite poem by Frost, although I like “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening” too. I have gained so much from just stopping to chat now and then.
That reminded me… If you liked Frost’s poem, you might also appreciate thisone by Philip James Bailey, which I posted on my blog at year ago.
“We Live in Deeds, Not Years; In Thoughts, Not Breaths” by Philip James Bailey (1816-1902)
We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths;In feelings, not in figures on a dial.We should count time by heart-throbs. He most livesWho thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.And he whose heart beats quickest lives the longest:Lives in one hour more than in years do someWhose fat blood sleeps as it slips along their veins.Life’s but a means unto an end; that end,Beginning, mean, and end to all things—God.The dead have all the glory of the world.
I am surprised I’ve never heard that one before. Quite good.
That’s a rather convicting poem for me. How often have I neglected fellowship for the sake of completing whatever task I’m in the middle of doing… or even tried to multitask- talking to somebody while working on something. That’s an area I’ll be working on.
Perhaps the conversation they have at the wall is then covered in “Mending Wall.”
Along with my Reformation Study Bible and dictionary, my book of Frost poems stays on my desk where it is always within reach. I love this one.
Yesterday my daughter called for me to sit and watch a funny show with her, I was listening to a sermon (oh holy me), and said “just a minute” (I had 25 minutes to go), then it hit me: “this girl is 15, she won’t be sitting with me much when I ask if I don’t sit with her when she asks, go and enjoy, the sermon can wait.”
Sometimes even “holy work” can wait.
Blessings,
Terry