“So was I once myself a swinger of birches.And so I dream of going back to be.”

“One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.”

“I'd like to go by climbing a birch tree~And climb black branches up a snow-white trunkToward heaven, till the tree could bear no more,But dipped its top and set me down again.That would be good both going and coming back.One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.”

“They are dragged to the withered bracken by the load, And they seem not to break; though once they are bowed So low for long, they never right themselves.”

“They cannot scare me with their empty spacesBetween stars—on stars where no human race is.I have it in me so much nearer homeTo scare myself with my own desert places.”

“He says the best way out is always through. / And I can agree to that, or in so far / As that I can see no way out but through”

“For I have had too muchOf apple-picking:I am overtiredOf the great harvest I myself desired.”