The Pasture Spring

I'm going out to clear the pasture spring;
I'll only stop to rake the leaves away,
And wait to watch the water clear, I may.
I shan't be gone long - you come too.

I'm going out to fetch the little calf
That's standing by its mother; it's so young
It totters when she licks it with her tongue.
I shan't be gone long - you come too.

Robert Frost

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  This was written early in Frost's career and thereafter it appeared in practically every new volume of verse he published, right at the beginning, a poet's statement about his poetry, and an invitation to join him.  
  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
Beside the woods and frozen lake
This darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
As if to say, "There's 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.

Robert Frost

 
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Both Clifford and Charlie know this one by heart. It was a favourite at bedtime when they were small, and even though the last line speaks of "miles to go before I sleep", it seldom failed to convey just the opposite message. With the first statement of the line, the eyelids began to droop, and sleep was seldom far behind the second.