Song of Ulysses
For greatness and glory’s sake
For all things rich and noble
In proud ships tall let us make
Again where only men are able
Tired we’ve grown of glitter and gold
Of the clamor of the market place
Let us dream of Delphic days of old
That Poseidon’s rage could not erase
Come, arise, my men, arise
For tomorrow we shall sail
Again under bluer Aegean skies
There to find newer walls to assail
Circe’s song had made us weak
For we had slept too long and late
But now for greater joys let us seek
Knowing we are masters of our fate
This woeful world is much remiss
Yet only in a world such as this
One without comfort, joy, or bliss
Do we dare climb the steps of Olympus
Come my men let us venture
Into the depths of the setting sun
There we’ll find new worlds to conquer
Long, long after this day is done.
Piper Pan
Out from his grotto and grassy glen
The Piper Pan will play again
Casting his charms for all to hear
Over the fields and forests near
Dizzy the dance in moonlight dells
With golden cups and magic spells
The Piper plays his rustic pipes
While Bacchus rounds the purple rites
The pastoral pipes play so clear
The Sylvan songs we long to hear
As Dionysian delights regain
When the piper will play again.
Reply of an Athlete
(for Housman)
Yes there was a time I won a race
As they chaired me shoulder high
Up and down a market place
To this place where I now lie
For I knew then and so did she
How frail the strings of mortality
As a widowed mother wished me stay
At home to nurse my time away
But you know not the reason I ran
Not to defend some challenge cup
Nor for laurels nor to prove a man
Nor for the record they still pin up
The rows of pictures on the piano
Top have hardly moved to show
One last smile from one smart lad
Who had won a race for dear old dad.
Born in Walton-on-Thames, England in 1945, Clinton Van Inman graduated from San Diego State University in 1977 and is now a retired high school English teacher in Tampa Bay where he lives with his wife, Elba.
I loved all three. Touches of the past mixed with regrets of something lost. Enjoyed very much
These (poems) are so male
they need response;
I do not rail,
only hold the sconce
of a female touch.
For noble, too, are females’ days;
of these you’ve not given much.
For History too, women’s lives displays.
(Enjoyed them, all the same, Sir Van Inman)
I don’t think Ulysses had women on aboard, but thanks for your comments..Clint
Song of Ulysses I liked more. Let us dream of Delphic days of old/That Poseidon’s age could not erase.. and many more. Very nice! It inspired me to chant Tennyson’s poem once again. Thanks!
I also loved all three.
These poems feel grounded in an older, steadier music, and that’s part of their power. Song of Ulysses captures the ache of restlessness without romantic excess, while Reply of an Athlete moved me most for its quiet honesty and lack of sentimentality. Together they remind me how classical forms can still speak plainly, and movingly, about ambition, memory, and what time takes from us. Brilliant job, Clinton Inman!