While chiding thus I know my will
To live and have my life fair full
Man cannot reach the world beyond
Until he’s served his turn here on
And serving still that he may know
What fortune be before he’ll go
To sup upon Olymphia’s heights
And dwell amidst Elysian nights
So be it that untutored man
Shall feast among the days of Pan
There frolic in Calypsos glow
When God alone shall deem it so
Light be the reach of the heavens as I strive to touch some eternal place
Let me find the quarters of the gods let me bask in the warmth of their fates
Let me dream of their nectar a sacred ambrosia with delicate taste
Give me leave to pursue the immortal and gaze on their heavenly gates.
Permit me to stroll in their pastures free with hope to entwine in their grace
What I seek is sought after with peace in my heart and a smile on my face.
Life has been far more than full may its cup abound forever in this state
Of pleasure and laughter I need ought more than an occasional taste
To sustain the desire for living in this simple gracious human race,
Thus having dwelt among the gods let me return to outer mortal space
And so resign myself to that one fact which either cannot change nor pace
That life as it exists is for the living there’s not one small bit to waste.
Ah that I might fly with the wings of freedom into the light of the sun
Nevermore to return again to the deepest dark of the realm unknown
To fly as with the fleetest wings of an angel untethered and unstrung
Swiftly straight as the line of an arrow with its purpose as deadly clung.
Mild be the wind that wafts me to the end my journey thus over and done
Let there be none to feel the loss or question why once after I’ve begun
Be it done in the silent midst of their slumber far long before their sun
Rises in the shadowed sky to awake the ungodly din which could come
Soon in the wake of my dangerous flight as all regrets and hopes are flung
To the nymphs of the heavens above in the thunder of their cries belong
The tears of the ungodly and the damned the pittance of their grief now gone
To serve another master and seek another world whence to dwell upon.
Claire V. Bogdanos 