“A Time to Talk” by Robert Frost
When a friend calls to me from the road
And slows his horse to a meaning walk
I don’t stand still and look around
On all the hills I haven’t hoed,
And shout from where I am, What is it?
No, not as there is a time to talk.
I thrust my hoe in the mellow ground,
Blade-end up and five feet tall,
And plod: I go up to the stone wall
For a friendly visit.
This little poem encourages me in two ways.
First, it is nice to know that our hurried, modern life is not the origination of the temptation to let my busy schedule pull me away from giving time to meaningfully investing in relationships. Even in a slower time when travel was accomplished on horseback and the hills where plowed with a single hoe, there was a temptation to call quickly (and perhaps with annoyance) “what is it,” when a person distracted them from the task at hand. It’s nice to know my temptation is common to more generations than just my own.
But the poem encourages me to go ahead and invest in those relationships. It reminds me that even when I am extremely busy, I can make time for a talk. It reminds me that life’s most meaningful moments occur during those times for a talk; maybe that is especially true when we make time for those friendly visits in the middle of our busyness.
I love how Frost shows a clear prioritization of his time in this poem. A “time to talk” ranks so high on his list of priorities that not stopping work to talk isn’t really a consideration for him. I have to be honest, it’s not always so easy for me to turn from the task at hand to the more important relationship at hand.
We may long for days such as Frost describes here. We may long for the days neighbors stopped by on their way home to greet you and see how you were doing. We may long for the days when front porches were the place of frequent, unplanned reunions. But this little poem shows us that even in those days, it was a choice. Even in those days when the world did seem to move more slowly, it was still a choice to prioritize relationships over responsibilities. And, if it was a choice for that generation, then that means it is a choice we can still make ourselves.
Maybe a choice we can make is to just spend more time outside. Some of us still have front porches, some of us still have front yards, but if we choose to not sit in front of the TV but rather be outside a little more, then maybe we will have more opportunities to visit with neighbors walking by. And who knows, maybe those conversations can become channels for the kingdom of God to flow.