His Beautiful Son Does Not Have the Brains
Odysseus decides he will not die.
This glares as clear to him as April light
On Ithaca. He knows this is awry
So he will have to trick the gods. Some sleight
Of mental hand will come to him in time.
He guesses he will have to trick them where
They are their weakest, Zeus in sex’s slime
Perhaps and Hades armored in despair.
The how and when are trifles. He is sure,
This scoundrel. It is up to him, not fate.
He only needs to think, to think a pure
Heroic thought. He knows he has to hate
Complacent deity. He knows a man
Must do it. Odysseus knows he can.