On the hill where Troy once stood,
they’ve dug up seven cities.
Seven cities. Six too many
for a single epic.
What’s to be done with them? What?
Hexameters burst,
nonfictional bricks appear between the cracks,
ruined walls rise mutely as in silent films,
charred beams, broken chains,
bottomless pitchers drained dry,
fertility charms, olive pits,
and skulls as palpable as tomorrow’s moon.
Our stockpile of antiquity grows constantly,
it’s overflowing,
reckless squatters jostle for a place in history,
hordes of sword fodder,
Hector’s nameless extras, no less brave than he,
thousands upon thousands of singular faces,
each the first and last for all time,
in each a pair of inimitable eyes.
How easy it was to live not knowing this,
so sentimental, so spacious.
What should we give them? What do they need?
Some more or less unpeopled century?
Some small appreciation for their goldsmiths’ art?
We three billion judges
have problems of our own,
our own inarticulate rabble,
railroad stations, bleachers, protests and processions,
vast numbers of remote streets, floors, and walls.
We pass each other once for all time in department stores
shopping for a new pitcher.
Homer is working in the census bureau.
No one knows what he does in his spare time.