Desert Places

 Photo by Artem Ivanov on Unsplash

Desert Places

by Robert Frost

Snow falling and night falling fast, oh, fast

In a field I looked into going past,

And the ground almost covered smooth in snow,

But a few weeds and stubble showing last.

The woods around it have it - it is theirs.
All animals are smothered in their lairs.
I am too absent-spirited to count;
The loneliness includes me unawares.

And lonely as it is, that loneliness
Will be more lonely ere it will be less -
A blanker whiteness of benighted snow
With no expression, nothing to express.

They cannot scare me with their empty spaces
Between stars - on stars where no human race is.
I have it in me so much nearer home
To scare myself with my own desert places.

This evocative winter poem, by the somewhat aptly named Robert Frost, has been analysed to the Nth degree by those more learned than I (click here ). Yet, whatever is your interpretation of the poem, its exploration of emptiness and loneliness seem to be something we can connect with on this snowy January lock-down day. 

Writing prompts:

• Have you observed a snowy scene at nightfall? Perhaps Frost's poem evokes a memory from childhood? It may not be one of loneliness. Write about that memory and the emotions experienced for six minutes. 
• Frost's life was beset by grief and loss. He was forced, at times, to deal with emptiness and loneliness of the mind and spirit. Do you, like Frost, have your own 'desert places'? If so, write about them. Set a timer and stop after seven minutes.