Tuesday, February 23, 2010

ABC Wednesday -- F -- is for

Fence
Mending Wall
Robert Frost
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun,
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
'Stay where you are until our backs are turned!'
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
Oh, just another kind of out-door game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
There where it is we do not need the wall:

He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, 'Good fences make good neighbors'.
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
'Why do they make good neighbors? Isn't it
Where there are cows?

But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offence.

Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down.' I could say 'Elves' to him,
But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather
He said it for himself. I see him there

Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me~
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
 He will not go behind his father's saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, "Good fences make good neighbors."
ABC Wednesday--in its 6th Round (my fifth)

Fences 1,3,5, and 6 were shot last week in Northeastern Oregon.
Fences 2,4,7, and 8 were taken last September in Alaska.

12 comments:

Roger Owen Green said...

Nice pictures to go with the poem. I knew these three or four yards without fences at all, and they seemed to work, but we certainly have our fences for a reason.

Roger Owen Green said...

On behalf of the ABC Wednesday team, thank you!

Gattina said...

Fence ! of course ! I had no ideas yesterday for words with F ! A very beautiful selection of fences you made here !

James said...

Thank you very much for the beautiful quilt. We really appriciate it and our cats like the box that it came in. We also liked the pamplet that came with it. The pictures were great but your actions are far greater. You are really doing a wonderful job promoting breast cancer awareness. I want you to know that we will donate the cost of shipping to the breast cancer charity.

Thanks again James.

imac said...

Wonderful words, for wonderful photos.
I like the wheel fence.

Katney said...

James, I just had a reminder to register for this year's 3-Day walk come in the same e-mail download as notice of your comment. If you wait a week or two, you can make the shipping contribution through my next walk--I'll have a link on my sidebar when I get signed up. I just have to decide for sure which city to walk in. I have three choices--Seattle (home ground but lots of hills) Phoenix (family in that area, my teammates from last year, and a lovely route) or San Diego ( the biggest of the 3-Day events, my childhood home county where I also have family, the area where my mother and sister both lived and battled Breast Cancer, and my temamates from last year are doing that walk, too. Yikes--they are doing back to back walks on two succeeding weekends and raising about $5000 each. More than I can handle.)

Jay said...

Some great examples of fences in there! Love the horse!

Kerrie said...

Really nice pictures, I enjoyed them! Had heart tests the past 2 weeks and have not been making my blog rounds. But I am in the swing again now. Hugs, Kerrie

LeAnn said...

Wow, such different fences! Who would have known it would be such a joy to check out each and every one! Thanks for putting these up for us to see. ~

photowannabe said...

Delightful series of fences. I especially like the wagon wheel one. Great photos to go with the prose.

Tumblewords: said...

Wonderful fences and a friendly nose as well.

Martha Z said...

This is a wonderful collection of fences to illustrate one of my favorite poems.
I've been lax in my blogging. A week of beautiful weather kept me on bike and in garden. Then there was ice skating to watch and April 15 will be hot on the heals of spring. Too much to do.