{
 "id": "robert-frost/blueberries",
 "title": "Blueberries",
 "poet": "Robert Frost",
 "poet_slug": "robert-frost",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "North of Boston",
 "book_slug": "north-of-boston",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 8,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1914,
  "venue": "North of Boston (1914)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7057510"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/robert-frost_north-of-boston",
  "file": "north-of-boston.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3026",
   "https://archive.org/details/northboston00frosgoog"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-12"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 105,
  "n_stanzas": 19,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 56,
  "max_indent": 0
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "“You ought to have seen what I saw on my way",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To the village, through Mortenson’s pasture today:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Blueberries as big as the end of your thumb,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Real sky-blue, and heavy, and ready to drum",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In the cavernous pail of the first one to come!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And all ripe together, not some of them green",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And some of them ripe! You ought to have seen!”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“I don’t know what part of the pasture you mean.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“You know where they cut off the woods⁠—let me see⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "It was two years ago⁠—or no!⁠—can it be",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "No longer than that?⁠—and the following fall",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The fire ran and burned it all up but the wall.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Why, there hasn’t been time for the bushes to grow.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That’s always the way with the blueberries, though:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "There may not have been the ghost of a sign",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of them anywhere under the shade of the pine,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But get the pine out of the way, you may burn",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The pasture all over until not a fern",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or grass-blade is left, not to mention a stick,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And presto, they’re up all around you as thick",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And hard to explain as a conjuror’s trick.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“It must be on charcoal they fatten their fruit.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I taste in them sometimes the flavour of soot.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And after all really they’re ebony skinned:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The blue’s but a mist from the breath of the wind,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A tarnish that goes at a touch of the hand,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And less than the tan with which pickers are tanned.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Does Mortenson know what he has, do you think?”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“He may and not care and so leave the chewink",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To gather them for him⁠—you know what he is.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He won’t make the fact that they’re rightfully his",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "An excuse for keeping us other folk out.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“I wonder you didn’t see Loren about.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“The best of it was that I did. Do you know,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I was just getting through what the field had to show",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And over the wall and into the road,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When who should come by, with a democrat-load",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of all the young chattering Lorens alive,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But Loren, the fatherly, out for a drive.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“He saw you, then? What did he do? Did he frown?”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“He just kept nodding his head up and down.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "You know how politely he always goes by.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But he thought a big thought⁠—I could tell by his eye⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Which being expressed, might be this in effect:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "‘I have left those there berries, I shrewdly suspect,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To ripen too long. I am greatly to blame.’ ”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“He’s a thriftier person than some I could name.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“He seems to be thrifty; and hasn’t he need,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With the mouths of all those young Lorens to feed?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He has brought them all up on wild berries, they say,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Like birds. They store a great many away.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They eat them the year round, and those they don’t eat",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They sell in the store and buy shoes for their feet.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Who cares what they say? It’s a nice way to live,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Just taking what Nature is willing to give,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Not forcing her hand with harrow and plow.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“I wish you had seen his perpetual bow⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the air of the youngsters! Not one of them turned,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And they looked so solemn-absurdly concerned.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“I wish I knew half what the flock of them know",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of where all the berries and other things grow,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Cranberries in bogs and raspberries on top",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of the boulder-strewn mountain, and when they will crop.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I met them one day and each had a flower",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Stuck into his berries as fresh as a shower;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Some strange kind⁠—they told me it hadn’t a name.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“I’ve told you how once not long after we came,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I almost provoked poor Loren to mirth",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By going to him of all people on earth",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To ask if he knew any fruit to be had",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For the picking. The rascal, he said he’d be glad",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To tell if he knew. But the year had been bad.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "There had been some berries⁠—but those were all gone.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He didn’t say where they had been. He went on:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "‘I’m sure⁠—I’m sure’⁠—as polite as could be.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He spoke to his wife in the door, ‘Let me see,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Mame, we don’t know any good berrying place?’",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "It was all he could do to keep a straight face.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“If he thinks all the fruit that grows wild is for him,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He’ll find he’s mistaken. See here, for a whim,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We’ll pick in the Mortensons’ pasture this year.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We’ll go in the morning, that is, if it’s clear,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the sun shines out warm: the vines must be wet.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "It’s so long since I picked I almost forget",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "How we used to pick berries: we took one look round,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Then sank out of sight like trolls underground,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And saw nothing more of each other, or heard,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Unless when you said I was keeping a bird",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Away from its nest, and I said it was you.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "‘Well, one of us is.’ For complaining it flew",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Around and around us. And then for a while",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We picked, till I feared you had wandered a mile,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And I thought I had lost you. I lifted a shout",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Too loud for the distance you were, it turned out,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For when you made answer, your voice was as low",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As talking⁠—you stood up beside me, you know.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“We sha’n’t have the place to ourselves to enjoy⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Not likely, when all the young Lorens deploy.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They’ll be there tomorrow, or even to-night.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They won’t be too friendly⁠—they may be polite⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To people they look on as having no right",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To pick where they’re picking. But we won’t complain.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "You ought to have seen how it looked in the rain,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The fruit mixed with water in layers of leaves,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Like two kinds of jewels, a vision for thieves.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}