<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><p class="MsoNormal">Upon The Fall Of Troy </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Nothing occurs this morning,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">nothing save the near drowning of Odysseus,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">who keeps pressing on nonetheless<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">until, under the tangled bower<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">of the boughs of the wild and the tame<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">twin olives, he covers himself with a duff of leaves,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">and grey-eyed Athena grants him rest.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Let us then dream with Odysseus<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">the rest of our lives,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">as he did upon such parlous storm.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">The door will open<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">and all our daughters pour in.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">And thus the plain day begins.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">I hope I wish you well as<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">I bury my nose in my affairs.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Odd jobs to be done about this place,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">A thing or two to write<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">and the chain of old responsibilities.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">If you think the chores and itches of Job<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">are required, sit down and have<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">this tea with me. Mercy also is a sacred cup.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">It empties suffering. And peace<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">is neither tedious nor bland.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">What burned the capitol down<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">is long over the horizon.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">The earthquake shock trembled mountains,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">I can tell you that. But I neither<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">remember nor recall the indulgence.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">So settle with me here. The dogs<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">may scramble up our knees<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">and we may forget what we meant to say.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">This smile, this smile may depart when we must write:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">“They told me, Heraclitus, they told me you were dead.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">It strikes us dumb, our systems shake<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">and bow down under the heavy news<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">of the end of the love of our lives.<span> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Words that tell us, yes, there is nothing left to come.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">We weep so deeply. Because that, <i>that</i> is the final tremor.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Bruce Moody<o:p></o:p></p><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div></body></html>