19 8 5 4 4 9 14 7
by DREW SKELTON
Humans cannot stay awake forever;
far away from those who love him
his brave companion destroyed
his heart was surging in him as he walked,
warmed inside, despite his grief.
The poplars grow around
a wise man's home--it welcomed him,
and raised the many-minded hero from the ashes.
Notes:
Drew remixed words and phrases from Emily Wilson's translation of Homer's Odyssey to reflect particular characters or moments from the Epic of Gilgamesh. This piece recalls Gilgamesh returning to Uruk after a long and fruitless search for immortality that was ultimately thwarted by a snake.
The numbers below the title correspond to Odyssey book numbers. Drew devised the title by associating book numbers with letters of the alphabet (e.g., book 1 = A, book 19 = S). The list of numbers also indicates the book from which each line in the poem has been drawn (e.g., line 1 comes from book 19, line 4 from book 4).
