Did I Miss Any­thing?

I came to Bard with this poem in mind. So I haven't missed any classes and try to make the most of each one. It isn't the best poem ever, but still.

sorry for being cheesy.

Did I Miss Any­thing?
Tom Way­man

Noth­ing. When we real­ized you weren’t here
we sat with our hands folded on our desks
in silence, for the full two hours

Every­thing. I gave an exam worth
40 per­cent of the grade for this term
and assigned some read­ing due today
on which I’m about to hand out a quiz
worth 50 percent

Noth­ing. None of the con­tent of this course
has value or mean­ing
Take as many days off as you like:
any activ­i­ties we under­take as a class
I assure you will not mat­ter either to you or me
and are with­out purpose

Every­thing. A few min­utes after we began last time
a shaft of light sud­denly descended and an angel
or other heav­enly being appeared
and revealed to us what each woman or man must do
to attain divine wis­dom in this life and
the here­after
This is the last time the class will meet
before we dis­perse to bring the good news to all peo­ple
on earth.

Noth­ing. When you are not present
how could some­thing sig­nif­i­cant occur?

Every­thing. Con­tained in this class­room
is a micro­cosm of human expe­ri­ence
assem­bled for you to query and exam­ine and pon­der
This is not the only place such an oppor­tu­nity has been
gathered

but it was one place

And you weren’t here