This poem was inspired vaguely by The Odyssey, which I really like, although the title comes instead from the first word of The Iliad. I was trying to create something very visceral as well as drawing on aspects of Homer’s epic.
Rage
Rage! Against the mighty waves
That keep a sailor far from home
Soldier and mariner both
Cursed by powers far above
To wander through the wine-dark waves
Rage! Against the perilous storm
That dashes ship on rocks
Breaking wood hull on sharp stone
With hurling wind and shrieking lightning
With swirling waters and dark clouds
Rage! Against the fates above
That hold him back like chains
That keep him from wife and son
That conspire against him at all terms
Fighting against his mighty will
Rage! Against time
That speed so steadily
Days passing, then years
All he loves grows old
As he speeds home
Raging-
Against wave
Against storm
Against fate
Against time
For all the good it will do him.
