Nothing Gold Can Stay (Robert Frost, Pony Boy and Stevie Wonder)

It’s that time of the year. The chang­ing of natures color guard. I was reminded of this when I was look­ing for a Robert Frost poem on youtube to use for my pre­vi­ous post. I came across the Frost poem “Nothing Gold can stay” and I remem­bered one of my fave child­hood mem­o­ries.

When I was about twelve-​years-​old another one of my lit­tle pre­teen crushes was C. Thomas Howell. It started when I first saw him in the movie “The Outsiders” and put him on my list of peo­ple I might marry one day (so far I’m 0 for 20). Aside from that aspect the movie itself had a very pro­found affect on me.

First of all its author S.E. Hinton was born and raised in my home­town. The movie was also filmed there and as a kid my friends and I used to visit areas that were in the movie and pre­tend to be Greasers and Soc’. But, there was one scene in the movie that cemented my crush on Mr. Howell as well as my love for poetry. It was an emo­tional point in the movie when Pony Boy recites Robert Frost’ “Nothing Gold Can Stay”.

Pony Boy said he remem­bered the poem because he never knew what it meant. Only as an adult have I truly real­ized its mean­ing. That just so as sea­sons change so do the things in life. It reminded me of my won­der­ful child­hood mem­o­ries that now as an adult I wish I could hold on to. I wish I could recap­ture them, but noth­ing gold can stay. It reminds me of when my chil­dren were just babies and I expe­ri­enced their first’ (steps, words, laugh) and every­thing was so pure in their young eyes. But, noth­ing gold can stay. They have to grow up and see how the world really is. It reminded me of the losses we will inevitabil­ity expe­ri­ence in this world, the loss of loved one’s as well as inno­cence. Robert Frost penned a short poem that cap­tured so much truth. Things change whether it be sea­sons, peo­ple or cir­cum­stances.

Even though we know that things in this life will change we still yearn for things to stay the same. This is reflected in the song “Stay Gold” by Stevie Wonder that was also made for The Outsiders:

Seize upon that moment long ago
One breath away and there you will be
So young and care­free
Again you will see
That place in time…so gold

Steal away into that way back when
You thought that all would last for­ever
But like the weather
Nothing can ever…and be in time
Stay gold

But can it be
When we can see
So vividly
A mem­ory
And yes you say
So must the day
Too, fade away
And leave a ray of sun
So gold

Life, is but a twin­kling of an eye
Yet filled with sor­row and com­pas­sion
Though not imag­ined
All things that hap­pen
Will age too old
Though gold

This reminds me of a future promise. A promise when all things gold will stay and what we will be reflected in our futures time­line. It also reminds me to trea­sure the moments that we have even the mun­dane ones. These bit­ter­sweet mem­o­ries will com­fort us through the changes that we know will hap­pen.

Thanks for read­ing,