Desert Places

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.

Robert Frost