"You want the truth, and I will give it to you. My mother says that Odysseus is my father. I don't know this myself. No one witnesses His own begetting. If I had my way, I'd be the son Of a man fortunate enough to grow old at home. But its the man with the most dismal fate of all They say I was born from--since you want to know." -Telemachus, Book 1 Dogwatch R.S. Gwynn The North Atlantic March, 1944 The "happy time" is long past, and the great Convoy steams eastward at nine knots to fill Bellies of bombers and of boys whose fate Will be to seek out other boys to kill. Or be killed. Twenty-six, my father stands They dogwatch, and he smokes and looks to sea, Having this evening folded many hands And held out for the right card patiently, Raking a future in with bills and chips. A flash, a muffled crack, and not much more, And where, a moment since, one of our ships Has been, more depths of darkness than before, And, far behind, a home, a son, a wife, And, waiting with them to be lived, a life. |