The Minor Bird

Robert Frost

I have wished a bird would fly away
And not sing by my house all day;
Have clapped my hands at him from the door
When it seemed as if I could bear no more.
The fault may partly have been in me.
The bird was not to blame for his key.
And of course there must be something wrong
In wanting to silence any song.

Editors’ Note: The Yale Review is committed to publishing pieces from its archive as they originally appeared, without alterations to spelling, content, or style. Occasionally, errors creep in due to the digitization process; we work to correct these errors as we find them. You can email [email protected] with any you find.

Robert Frost was an American poet and four-time recipient of the Pulitzer Prize. He died in 1963.

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