Happy Birthday Mister Frost

Robert Frost,
up in Heaven now,
was last seen
by those of us
old enough to
remember seeing
him at all,
reciting a poem
at JFK's inauguration.
Back in the days
when JFK was a man
and not an airport.

Frost at 87 then
was still a poet
of immense gifts
and a talent for
stealing the show.
Kennedy's people
fretted that Frost
would chew up
the inaugural scenery.
His poem written
for the occasion
might be the only
words immortalized
on that day.

But time caught up
with the aged champion.
In sunlight reflected
off the snow
of January 1961
Frost could not
see his own words
on the page held
in shaky hands.
His occasional poem
titled simply
"Dedication"
fell to fragments
and finally
went unread.

Yet Frost lingered
at the podium,
one last trick
left in the tophat.
He recited an old
poem from memory,
"The Gift Outright"

In his aged voice, he began:
"The land was ours before we were the land's."

Midway through
memory recalled:

"Something we were withholding made us weak.
Until we found out that it was ourselves
We were withholding from our land of living,
And forthwith found salvation in surrender."

When memory finished
the task his eyes
could not complete
the ham actor poet
departed gracefully,
leaving behind
just enough stage
for John F. Kennedy
to work his own
oratorical ways:

"Ask not what your country can do for you.
Ask what you can do for your country."

So Happy Birthday
Mister Frost.
You saved the day.
I remember you
from that morning.
You were a shaky
black & white image
on the portable TV
Miss Carlsen brought
into our English class
just so we could see
a real poet live.

You became part
of our lesson plan
on the importance
of memorizing poems
for that worst case
scenario where
our eyes fail us
and memory kicks in
beginning maybe with
"Something there is that doesn't love a wall ..."

-- Rich Seeley