The wonderful Robert Frost poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening is finally in the public domain! That means I can quote it right here with no copyright infringement.
I’ve been waiting for years and years— well, since I was 10 years old and my class at St. Aidan’s School in Boston memorized this poem and set it to music. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” is one of Frost’s most beautiful verses, and also a great example of how deceptively simple his poetry could be.
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
BY ROBERT FROST
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
