A Dream Pang

I had withdrawn in forest, and my song


Was swallowed up in leaves that blew alway;


And to the forest edge you came one day


(This was my dream) and looked and pondered long,


But did not enter, though the wish was strong:


You shook your pensive head as who should say,


“I dare not - too far in his footsteps stray -


He must seek me would he undo the wrong.”

Not far, but near, I stood and saw it all,


Behind low boughs the trees let down outside;


And the sweet pang it cost me not to call


And tell you that I saw does still abide.


But 'tis not true that thus I dwelt aloof,


For the wood wakes, and you are here for proof.

Robert Frost - 1913