Aphelion Issue 301, Volume 28
December 2024 / January 2025
 
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Song Of Ulysses

by Clinton Van Inman


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,
The Cimmerian curse of a market place,
Let us dream of Delphic days of old
That even Poseidon’s rage could not erase.

Come, arise, my men, arise
For tomorrow we shall sail
Again under blue Aegean skies
There to find newer walls to assail.

Circe’s song had made us weak
For we have slept too long and late.
Now for greater joys let us seek
Knowing we are masters of our fate.

This woeful world is much too remiss,
But only in a world such as this
One without comfort, joy, or bliss
Dare we climb the steps of Olympus.

Come my men, let us venture
Into the depths of the setting sun,
There we’ll find newer worlds to conquer
Long, long after this day is done.


© 2011 Clinton Van Inman

Clinton Van Inman is a high school teacher in Hillsborough County, Florida. He is 65 and a graduate of San Diego State University. He was born in Walton on Thames, England. Recent publications include The Warwick Journal, Poetry Magazine, One of Four, Down in the Dirt, May, June, July, The Inquistion, The Journal, the New Writing, The Hudson Review, Essence, Forge, Houston Literary Review, Greensilk Journal, BlackCatPoems, Munyari.com, and the forthcoming issue of Grasslimb in August. Hopefully, these will be published in a future book called, “Caliban.”

Find more by Clinton Van Inman in the Author Index.

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