My little Homeric homage to the Mega Reunion

Sing to me, O Upsilon, of the Thirty-Two
who in their prime stood firm 
against the waves of pain and won  
that hallowed torch to scatter light,
these men of twists and turns
told time and again that theirs was
the Earth and everything in it.

O Eastern wind, who brought me rumors
of a great gathering, the remnants of that mighty group
among the other titans and the muses of this Age,
raising libation to the Sun to praise mortal days
of glories and true brotherhood --
feel this wail of grief welling
ike a  ruthless tide in this dark sea
of my brittle heart.
My heart hangs a golden bell of longing
to take full measure of  nymph-pressed grapes 
and bask in their toasted thoughts 
and the radiance of their company.
 
Love is remembering
by this Tiresias
fading amid the morbid walls of Troy
and feeding on quiet thoughts and stale bread.
His Aeolian harp strikes  tunes 
warmed by  visions 
of heroes who taught him life:  
there were many but especially,
mighty Gari,  Bossman of Olympian heights
in whose ample wings we found safety
and no small  morsels of  wisdom;
Palabrica, with the all-seeing eye,
the resurrected Polyphemus with his grasp
of Law and the desires of barristers;
Gozo, immortal save for his Achilles jaw, who
with the craft of Potsu Alvarez and  San Agustin
took hold of one ardent youth and
with the siren’s help lost his cherries to the wind.

The news of that distant assembly 
makes me declare to all the stars
and the hearts that listen:
I have always kept the faith
and leave this small advice:
by night pour yourselves in the study of Scripture
by day practice shooting from the hip
 

Alfie '67

* With real apologies to Robert Fagles and Homer’s Odyssey whose meters I have lifted for this sublime occasion, and the last two lines from Irving Layton