Last night E had to memorize a poem for school, and he pulled it up on my laptop to print it out. So this morning, when I sat down to work, this Robert Frost poem was still there, on my screen, and I was amazed to see how beautifully it describes the juggle that makes up my days during this phase of my life. I thought you might see some of your own life captured in the poem, too. So I’m sharing it with you.
THE ARMFUL
Robert Frost
For every parcel I stoop down to seize
I lose some other off my arms and knees,
And the whole pile is slipping, bottles, buns,
Extremes too hard to comprehend at. once
Yet nothing I should care to leave behind.
With all I have to hold with~ hand and mind
And heart, if need be, I will do my best.
To keep their building balanced at my breast.
I crouch down to prevent them as they fall;
Then sit down in the middle of them all.
I had to drop the armful in the road
And try to stack them in a better load.
2 Responses to “Robert Frost’s poem about working motherhood”
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My mother, as you know, is an English teacher (everyone’s favorite, I might add) and she has every student she teaches memorize two poems. Frost’s The Road Not Taken (I know it’s a bit overexposed but it’s still so good,), as a 7th grader and Kipling’s If, in 8th. I’ve found over the years, just how well each of those applies to my life in various ways. It’s really quite amazing to me. I’ve always love poetry, even as a young child, because of that ability, to reach us so profoundly.
Somehow I had never read that. Thank you for posting it. I’m going to print it out to keep. Although a paying job is not part of my armful, my stack is heavy and precarious as well.