APRIL 2014

5211. Robert Frost

I would have to find a new way of looking at things I had
known nearly all my life, such as scholarship and the woods.

Norman Maclean, Young Men and Fire

When we were young, a friend and I used to make fun of Robert Frost. We thought his simplicity a sign of stupidity. (We are both academics, trained to esteem the conspicuously complex above all else.)

My friend and I no longer speak. As the years went on, we grew apart and fell out. I suppose it was inevitable, or maybe I just say that to myself because I just don’t want to admit the possibility that it wasn’t.

Anyway, I don’t laugh at Robert Frost anymore, and while I cannot say for sure, my guess is that my friend doesn’t either.

Note: “Nothing gold can stay” (Robert Frost, “Nothing Gold Can Stay”).