Edwin Arlington Robinson

Here you will find the Poem Archibald's Example of poet Edwin Arlington Robinson

Archibald's Example

Old Archibald, in his eternal chair,
Where trespassers, whatever their degree, 
Were soon frowned out again, was looking off 
Across the clover when he said to me: 

?My green hill yonder, where the sun goes down
Without a scratch, was once inhabited 
By trees that injured him?an evil trash 
That made a cage, and held him while he bled. 

?Gone fifty years, I see them as they were 
Before they fell. They were a crooked lot
To spoil my sunset, and I saw no time 
In fifty years for crooked things to rot. 

?Trees, yes; but not a service or a joy 
To God or man, for they were thieves of light. 
So down they came. Nature and I looked on,
And we were glad when they were out of sight. 

?Trees are like men, sometimes; and that being so, 
So much for that.? He twinkled in his chair, 
And looked across the clover to the place 
That he remembered when the trees were there.