Kaisers and Czars will strut the stage Once more with pomp and greed and rage; Courtly ministers will stop At home and fight to the last drop; By the… - Robert Graves

But give thanks, at least, that you still have Frost's poems; and when you feel the need of solitude, retreat to the companionship of moon, water, hills and trees. Retreat, he reminds us, should not be confused with escape. And take these poems along for good luck!

Children born of fairy stock
Never need for shirt or frock
Never want for food or fire
Always get their heart's desire
Jingle pockets full of gold
Marry when they're seven years old
Every fairy child may keep
Two strong ponies and ten sheep
All have houses, each his own
Built of brick or granite stone
They live on cherries, they run wild
I'd love to be a fairy's child

Neither Tiphys nor Argus nor old Nauplius (whose great-grandfather and namesake had been the first Greek ever to steer by the Pole Star) could calculate their position with certainty.