John Hollander(b. 1929)
An Old-Fashioned Song
(Nous n'irons plus au boisY
No more walks in the wood:
The trees have all been cut
Down, and where once they stood
Not even a wagon rut
Appears along the path
Low brush is taking over.
No more walks in the wood:
This is the aftermath
Of afternoons in the clover
Fields where we once made love
1. " 'Nous n'irons plus au hois I Les lauriers sont coupes' (We'll go no more to the woods / The laurels have
been cut down)—from a French children's round dance [Hollander's note].
Then wandered home together
Where the trees arched above,
Where we made our own weather
When branches were the sky.
Now they are gone for good,
And you, for ill, and I
Am only a passer-by.
We and the trees and the way
Back from the fields of play
Lasted as long as we could.
No more walks in the wood: