The Silken Tent by Robert Frost

She is as in a field of silken tent

At midday when the sunny summer breeze

Has dried the dew and all its ropes relent,

So that in guys it gently sways at ease,

And its supporting central cedar pole,

That is its pinnacle to heavenward

And signifies the sureness of the soul,

Seems to owe naught to any single cord,

But strictly held by none, is loosely bound

By countless silken ties of love and thought

To every thing on earth the compass round,

And only by one's going slightly taut

In the capriciousness of summer air

Is of the slightest bondage made aware.

“After Apple-Picking, “Birches, “The Death of the Hired Man,” The Silken Tent,” and “Mending Wall” from THE POETRY OF ROBERT FROST edited by Edward Connery Lathem. Copyright 1930, 1939, 1969 by Henry Holt and Company, copyright 1942, 1944, 1958 by Robert Frost, copyright 1967, 1970 by Lesley Frost Ballantine. Reprinted by permission of Henry Holt and Company, LLC.