Poems (Piatt)/Volume 2/Their Heroic Lesson
THEIR HEROIC LESSON.[LEARNED FROM HOMER.[1]]
I let the sun stand still, this lonesome day, And hardly heard the very baby coo,(Meanwhile the world went on—the other way!) That I might watch the siege of Troy with you.
The great Achilles (whom we knew) was there— His shining shield was what we knew him by;And Hector with his plume of horse's hair Frightened his child and laughed to hear it cry.
Poor Hector! Never sorrow for the dead, In these three thousand piteous after years,Breathed into sweeter words than Helen said Beside him, through the dropping of her tears.
We grieved with Priam for his gracious son. Much-wandering Ulysses with his craftCheated us through strange seas—and every one Came straight to grief with him upon his raft.
Not one among you but could draw his bow, After its rest in Ithaca, and bringA suitor down!—In the dark backward, oh, How sad the swallow-twitter of its string!
Now, that it's time to shut the shadowy book, (Ah me, they clash together, left and right,And Greek meets Greek—or Trojan! Only look!)— What have you learned from it? You say: "To fight!"
- ↑ Stories from Homer, by Rev. Alfred J. Church.