In a Vale

Robert Frost · 1913–1916

Catalog grade guidance: 6–8 — Frost early-book lyric from hosted PD text (1913–1916).

26 content lines · 195 words · Est. recitation about 1 min 48 sec (approx.)

Public-domain text for reading and recitation practice. Source: Project Gutenberg #3021 / #3026 / #29345.Estimated time uses ~120 words/minute plus short pauses—not a contest rule.

In a Vale

    WHEN I was young, we dwelt in a vale
    By a misty fen that rang all night,
    And thus it was the maidens pale
    I knew so well, whose garments trail
    Across the reeds to a window light.
    The fen had every kind of bloom,
    And for every kind there was a face,
    And a voice that has sounded in my room
    Across the sill from the outer gloom.
    Each came singly unto her place,
    But all came every night with the mist;
    And often they brought so much to say
    Of things of moment to which, they wist,
    One so lonely was fain to list,
    That the stars were almost faded away
    Before the last went, heavy with dew,
    Back to the place from which she came--
    Where the bird was before it flew,
    Where the flower was before it grew,
    Where bird and flower were one and the same.
    And thus it is I know so well
    Why the flower has odor, the bird has song.
    You have only to ask me, and I can tell.
    No, not vainly there did I dwell,
    Nor vainly listen all the night long.