Nothing Gold Can Stay

By Robert Frost

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

I have never been one to care much for change.  I love small changes, tiny twists in the road that allow for surprises, renewal, and a feeling of "newness."  Yet, large changes have always made me feel a bit sad.  But reading through this poem again tonight, I think of the story of Midas and his golden touch.  Maybe it is not so bad that the gold cannot stay.  Maybe it is the knowing that it is fleeting that allows one to appreciate it all the more.  And since change is inevitable - the only true stablility in life - just maybe learning to appreciate life's fluidity is learning to appreciate life.