maybe,
a Trojan wrote the Iliad
but who was Milton?
Would a Christian know,
care, so much about hell?
Blake said Milton was
“of the Devil’s party,”
a Whig in spirit, a thorn
in God’s side. Maybe.
Maybe we all are Jews
and never knew it. What
is there anyhow to know,
we say what comes to mind
and praise fine weather.
The lineage is language
even if we lie, even if we seem
to praise killer Achilles
our hearts are safe in Troy,
eternal tower, Helena
at the gate welcoming
all of our fervent mistakes.
Call this the lineage, the line
we stumble along, hoping
it leads us to clarity
through landscapes of beauty
alone. Hum, come along
with me, we’ll sing our way
there yet, line by line, just
a few songs more and we’re there.

31 October 2020