"Robert Frost"

In 1956 I was in school
at Ohio Wesleyan University
at Delaware, Ohio.
We had chapel during the week
at 12:15 pm which was manditory.
It was held in the auditorium,
for all students.
They allowed you to be absent
from chapel three times.
I paid a friend I met
who sat in the seat next to me
to sit in my seat,
so I would not be counted as absent.
I don't know what he did,
because he was not in his seat.
Maybe he paid someone as well,
alittle less than what
I was paying him.
I went to the anditorium
for other reasons, like when
Robert Frost came to read his poems.
I was in the front row,
three feet from him.
His voice was clear
and knew exactly
how to read each poem.
He was attached by his
heart strings to his work.
That is how he attached to me
when I read his poems.
Many I memorized
so I could run them over
and over in my mind
when college classes
became boring.
His hair was white
and probably because I was young
he looked old.
I still sit in the front row
and see him standing
in his dark suit and white shirt.
His voice finds my ears
as I wonder how these words
found his voice.
They were so much a part of him.
Times like this were why
I stayed in school
as long as I did.
When I left my sophomore year,
I went to work in the city
and dyed my hair gray.