The Iliad (Homer)

Achilles and Hec­tor would grum­ble,
“Why, gods, won’t the city walls tum­ble?“
Imag­ine their joy
when the morons of Troy
were deaf to the horse belly’s rum­ble.

Or was it they thought, “indi­ges­tion,“
dis­miss­ing Cassandra’s sug­ges­tion
that maybe they should
put their ears to the wood,
if only to set­tle the ques­tion?


The Odyssey (Homer)

A war­rier known as Ulysses
went off, dis­ap­point­ing his Mrs.,
for twenty long years,
and she, through her tears,
refused all the suit­ors her kisses.

Or did she? Some gos­sipers claim
Pene­lope, being a dame,
lack­ing men’s armor
let one or two charm her,
besmirch­ing her husband’s good name.

​

But no, she con­sumed the years sit­ting.
And wait­ing. And knit­ting and knit­ting.
Her suit­ors unwit­ting,
her nightly unknit­ting
post­poned all their suits, as was fit­ting.