Choose Something Like a Star

If you're familiar with Robert Frost, you may know his beloved poem called "Choose Something Like a Star." And, if you're familiar with choral music, you may have sung or heard the setting composed by Randall Thompson that provides glorious vocal accompaniment for the Frost poem.

I recently sang the piece with my choir in our spring concert, so of course the music continues to play in my mind. And, the words are so appropriate for us right now -- and so much in keeping with astrological and spiritual themes -- I want to share them with those who may not know the poem, and refresh the memories of those of us who have long held these words dear.

I find the final four lines of the poem especially meaningful, due to the upcoming New Moon in July that conjoins the star Sirius:

So when at times the mob is swayed
To carry praise or blame too far,
We may choose something like a star
To stay our minds on and be staid.

Image of the star Sirius

Here's the complete poem:

Choose Something Like a Star
by Robert Frost

O Star (the fairest one in sight),
We grant your loftiness the right  
To some obscurity of cloud --
It will not do to say of night, 
Since dark is what brings out your light.
Some mystery becomes the proud.
But to be wholly taciturn
In your reserve is not allowed.
Say something to us we can learn
By heart and when alone repeat.
Say something! And it says "I burn."
But say with what degree of heat.
Talk Fahrenheit, talk Centigrade.
Use language we can comprehend.
Tell us what elements you blend.
It gives us strangely little aid,
But does tell something in the end.
And steadfast as Keats' Eremite,
Not even stooping from its sphere,
It asks a little of us here.
It asks of us a certain height,
So when at times the mob is swayed
To carry praise or blame too far,
We may choose something like a star
To stay our minds on and be staid.

If you'd like to hear the choral version by Randall Thompson that sets this poem to music, here's a link to a YouTube video that's pretty awesome: Choose Something Like a Star

Enjoy!

Pam