Show Me the Place, 11

“Show me the place.”

Duke Senior in As You Like It (2.1)

12: The Woods around Hiram, Ohio—1950s

The wooded township Hiram had

Allowed me to be Robin Hood.

I dressed in green—and fought the bad

With sticks and arrows—all for good!

My parents were somewhat concerned:
A Robin Hood inside their son?

All schoolwork he has somehow spurned?

Devotes himself to constant fun?

Oh, yes, I did! (I’m proud to say.)

I loved those arrows more than math.

And as for school? I’d rather play.

(And I am now no psychopath!)

Those boyhood days in Lincoln green

Lie in my past—so long ago.

But I know what those days now mean:

They helped imagination grow.

Google Earth
still lots of woods around Hiram