Robert Frost – Always Looking Up

Robert Frost is well known for his winter poems, less for poems short and stark, rhyming lines that trace his snowflakes up and up, intersecting heaven’s arc. But truth be told, he liked the sky, the constellations’ calm, the peace they shed, silent and unchanging overhead.

One hundred and ten years ago, Robert Frost must have looked up, taking in the universe. As Einstein did calculations, Frost sought consolation in constellations.

How much more might we, in a world of crazy coots and biting geese, find that peace?

In 1916, Frost wrote “On Looking Up By Chance at the Constellations.” Goes like this:

“You’ll wait a long, long time for anything much
To happen in heaven beyond the floats of cloud
And the Northern Lights that run like tingling nerves.
The sun and moon get crossed, but they never touch,
Nor strike out fire from each other nor crash out loud.
The planets seem to interfere in their curves
But nothing ever happens, no harm is done.
We may as well go patiently on with our life,
And look elsewhere than to stars and moon and sun
For the shocks and changes we need to keep us sane.
It is true the longest drout will end in rain,
The longest peace in China will end in strife.
Still it wouldn’t reward the watcher to stay awake
In hopes of seeing the calm of heaven break
On his particular time and personal sight.
That calm seems certainly safe to last tonight.”

Funny enough, as you think about the world Frost inhabited, it was slower than ours, quieter too. There were barely more cars than horses, and phones were few. No planes or rockets, more iceboxes than freezers, electricity rare, no Internet, social media, or TV set.

Still Frost craved peace, found it in those Northern Lights, planets, stars, and moon, then likely lowered his gaze, and soon … gave the harness bells a shake, told himself to stay awake, and muttered lines beneath his breath, like …

“The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep.”

Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, Maine attorney, ten-year naval intelligence officer (USNR), and 25-year businessman. He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (North Country Press, 2018), and “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024). He is the National Spokesman for AMAC. Today, he is running to be Maine’s next Governor (please visit BobbyforMaine.com to learn more)!