Odysseus blinding the Cyclops Polyphemus. Late geometric vase dating to 670 BCE. Earliest depiction of Odysseus and thought to be a burial urn for a young child.
Sleep, sleep this longest of the nights
I’ve tucked and folded your bedding tight.
After tomorrow’s pyre, what shall I fix?
Ashes, then dust, swept in a clay cradle,
A lonesome journey down the river Styx
respite from pain and Life’s betrayal.
I wonder, how will I know that you’re safe?
Odysseus used his wily spear for fight,
our bedtime hero, but you, my small waif?
I only have this urn for your body, so slight.
There was no escaping fate under lamb’s wool.
No happy way to kill the stupid giant
I drew him here, with a rhino, and a bull.
So I’m with you always, strong and defiant.
I will burn incense and send my prayer
to your gray world without disease and fears.
Although I may laugh to battle my despair
inwardly, I’ll be counting down my years.
Sleep, my child, sleep this longest of the nights
I’ve tucked and folded your bedding tight.
Continuing this month of October with a tour of master paintings, and using them as writing prompts for poetry. A complete explanation of Ekphrastic poetry starts here with the talented Instructor John Brantingham, a local English professor. Write poetry, or read it!