"ABOUT SCIENCE"

The Demiurge’s Laugh (Robert Frost, 1915, A Boy's Will)

IT was far in the sameness of the wood;
I was running with joy on the Demon’s trail,
Though I knew what I hunted was no true god.
It was just as the light was beginning to fail
That I suddenly heard—all I needed to hear:
It has lasted me many and many a year.

The sound was behind me instead of before,
A sleepy sound, but mocking half,
As of one who utterly couldn’t care.
The Demon arose from his wallow to laugh,
Brushing the dirt from his eye as he went;
And well I knew what the Demon meant.

I shall not forget how his laugh rang out.
I felt as a fool to have been so caught,
And checked my steps to make pretence
It was something among the leaves I sought
(Though doubtful whether he stayed to see).
Thereafter I sat me against a tree.

MORE:
-BOOK SITE: Going by Contraries: Robert Frost's Conflict with Science by Robert Bernard Hass (University of Virginia Press)
-ESSAY: The Demiurge's Laugh (Ann Elz, 4253 Project)
-ESSAY: Robert Frost & The New England Renaissance (George Monteiro)
-ESSAY: A Poet Reads Darwin (Mark Walhout, Jan/Feb 1999, Books & Culture)
-ESSAY: Mandelstam's Gardener (Michael Caines, Poetry Review)
-The Robert Frost Society
-ARCHIVES: "robert frost" (Find Articles) Posted by Orrin Judd at August 24, 2003 6:06 AM