Poem of the Week no.11: Fire and Ice

I couldn't go too long without working in a Robert Frost poem. As the seasons turn towards winter, this one seemed apt (although its frame of reference is far wider than the weather).

He died in 1963, so by my calculation, if copyright in the US lasts seventy years after death, his work is still in copyright. So I won't include a copy of the poem here (although I'm sure it's on the internet in multiple locations).

I asked one of the Maths teachers if they'd put the Numbers poem up in their classroom. No, they said, in certain tone of voice I didn't much enjoy, they didn't, because they didn't think it was a particularly good poem. Nor did they want any more poems. OK. I tried. (Note: deliberately gender-obscuring personal pronouns used). I refrained from asking their qualifications in evaluating poetry, and how these outranked, say the Library of Congress Poetry 180 selection committee, or my own tertiary qualifications in English literature and English teaching; or indeed personal opinion should have outweighed support for a school program... You win some, you lose some.