THE WANDERER

     As if I had been holding Odyssey
     alone -- the weight of marble
     forever heavy upon my back...
     the body's sculpture, like frieze
                  turned under.
 

     I am an old Greek --
     in shipwreck, cast upon an island,
     years from Ithaca.  Stripped of
     armor, (the skin cask)... hair,
     like a mane of chariot.  So
     very weary, and not yet unafraid.

     Still owing pledge to the goddess.