Homer Homage

CAVE AB HOMINE VNIVS LIBRI

Book I

Some time, and in no time people wrote
Of words and deeds Laocoön once spoke.
In servitude and greatness as he lived
Came ‘cross the garden, dyed in seapink thrift;
And in its center gazed he yet a tree
Of knowledge that made humankind unfree;
And in its center gazed he one of Greece,
A spirit who has lost its days to seize.
Laocoön, though, saw its misery
And set the spirit, bound in that tree, free.
The spirit was in awe to thank the man
Who unveiled what confined it. It began
A comradeship of two in chains and toil
Until their souls incepted to embroil
The fate of time and mastery of word,
Poseidon’s might, which everywhere was heard.

“What is thy name,” Laocoön addressed
The spirit, who was novelly impressed.
“Ariel, my name, oh, noble man,
to whom I owe my prolonged mortal span.
Will grant thy gracious soul a wish of will,
Enlighten me, then let thy wish fulfill.”
“Your words,” he spoke, “have won me at the last.
Will practice magic, for I want to grasp
the arts concealed the demons hid before
a tempest caught and casted me ashore.”
“Thy wish will grant!” she said and walked away
To seize the first permitted priceless day.
Laocoön in joy would settle down
To ruminate about the one he found
That finally can make his wish come true
So he would nevermore have to ensue.

“Laocoön is to resist thy might,
for soon will I be strong enough to fight!”