AFTER THE ILIAD

"Men are made for war"so said Homer
about whom we know less than blindness
So we gather in the sunshine post-suicide UT
(he came to stain the peaceful Library with his immolation-
no hero he,no Hector,nor Achilles-more a sullen,silent one
of high intelligence but not high degree.At 19
no youth should end so brief.We heard Homer on the need
for "a long and comfortable life rather than a glorious brief"
Whether the gods are with us -or the Fates
We voted for peace and poetry with our presence
and all the wars outside and within must wait.

ARE THE GODS OF WAR ANNOYED WITH US?
Hermes took Priam to the tent of Achilles
when Priam killed the hands that killed his sons
(19 from one mother,the rest from women in his household)
Achilles,enraged that Hector should kill his Patroclus
swore that"dogs and birds would eat every last scrap"
Yet when Priam beseeched him with a Prayer of Entreaty
reminding him of his own father ,who had mated with a Goddess
yet had but one son to carry his Light onwards
Achilles agreed-"let pain lie at rest awhile
nothing to be gained from cold grief
the gods give two jars to each of us
one is joy,the other pain-and they commingle..
They are the ones who added pain to mortal life
while they watch from a comfortable distance"
Achilles and Priam united in grief and mourning for the loss
of those they held most dear /while we could not forget
that solitary one(less than Charles Whitman)who imported self-death
into a most precious peaceful sanctuary-our Library

MEDEA(via Euripides)upbraided Jason
when he went off with another woman-
"i would rather throw spears in many battles
than suffer the pain of one birthing"
Men may be made for war-body bags await
Women cry and wail ,for it it is their sons and husbands
with spears and swords being buried
The birth of sorrow as continuous
and endless wars that have no living heroes
POETRY ON THE PLAZA WED OCT 6 @high noon on the plaza outside Harry Ransom