Monday – Winter Solstice
Today being December 21st, I post the most famous poem ever set on “the darkest evening of the year”—which also happens to be America’s best-known poem (although Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” runs a close second). What strikes me this time upon rereading Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” is the importance of “promises to keep.”
Whatever the woods signify to the speaker, it seems clear he would turn his back on various obligations were he to yield to their temptation. As I watch a president who, governed by personal gratification, appeals to America’s dark id, I see special value in promises. They are what keep a society from degenerating into barbarism.
One would think that conservatives would value such commitments. The tug of war between social tradition and individual liberty has long been what marks the conservative-liberal tension, which at its healthiest is a balancing act. The GOP gave up genuine conservatism a while back, however, choosing instead irresponsible libertarianism.
There have been times, over the past four years, when those appalled by GOP shenanigans have been tempted to, as it were, lie down in the snow and give up. Thankfully, a sense of commitment to something beyond themselves kept them moving on. When yielding looks this inviting, it takes a hard resolve to keep going.
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
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.
