One of my favorite Robert Frost poems, “Reluctance,” explores how difficult it is to let go of that which we have cherished. I won’t quote it here because I don’t want the Frost estate to sue the pants off me, but there’s an especially poignant moment in which the poet uses the image of an oak tree to reflect upon human beings’ natural aversion to change.
In the backyard of the house where I used to live, there was a stalwart, beautiful oak tree that helped me to understand the botanical grounding of Frost’s imagery. Each autumn, the oak leaves would turn golden along with the leaves from the maple and other trees.