The Telephone
"When I was just as far as I could walk
From here to-day,
There was an hour
All still
When leaning with my head against a flower
I heard you talk.
Don't say I didn't, for I heard you say--
You spoke from that flower on the window sill--
Do you remember what it was you said?"
"First tell me what it was you thought you heard."
"Having found the flower and driven a bee away,
I leaned my head,
And holding by the stalk,
I listened and I thought I caught the word--
What was it? Did you call me by my name?
Or did you say--
*Someone* said 'Come' -- I heard it as I bowed."
"I may have thought as much, but not aloud."
"Well, so I came."
Commentary
Text within *s in italics.
From Louis Untermeyer’s ‘Robert Frost’s Poems.’
I like Robert Frost. Usually, it is the way his intellect and wit simultaneously shine through his verse that I appreciate most. But this poem appeals to me differently. I like its simplicity (and that of its characters) and the ‘telephone’ is just such a sweet notion. The artlessness of the “Well, so I came.” always makes me smile. I think this poem shows a different facet of the genius that is Frost.
— Radhika Gowaikar