Among the Many and Ulysses Redux

AMONG THE MANY

                    Outside my bedroom,

the first robin warbles a canticle to spring.

We have traversed the snowy catacombs

of dark February and come out safely on the other side.

Only a stubble of wintry frost remains as a reminder

how like a woman is March, nurturing and loving

yet capable of such violent storms.

                    In the dim,

early dawn light, the sun and moon

stare at each other from opposite sides of the sky. 

I flourish my hat and bow, offering a polite

“Top of the morning to you, Madam Moon.”

And for one brief moment, I am

acutely aware of my place in the universe.

                    The only sentient being

in all this vast, ever expanding galaxy

who is in this exact spot,

who is at this exact time

thinking these exact thoughts. 

Then the moment is gone and I am

free of such existential philosophies.

                    Once again I am

a happy, ignorant fool among the many,

just another Spring drunk imbecile

out for a walk on a pleasant March morning

while the sun sits in lotus, a grinning

yellow Buddha hanging in the eastern sky.

ULYSSES REDUX

Has it been twenty years since you went away?

And not a word in all that time – no phone calls,

No letters, not even a postcard.  Been exploring

The nine circles of Dante’s Hell to hear you tell.

Did you really believe time would freeze

Like a snapshot, awaiting your return before resuming

Its relentless motion.  The old gang that used to gather

On Saturday nights down at the Sunoco for beer

And poker have all gone on with their lives

And your sweetheart has married your enemy

Who sleeps in the bed that was meant for you

And the child that should have been yours

Calls him “daddy.”  So tell me then,

Do you still love your Penelope

Now that you’re home at last?

"Among the Many" and "Ulysses Redux" originally appeared in Poem, May 2011