Poems

Diomede, he's good indeed
the chariot -- he's best!
hero  worships, eighty war ships
Homer lists the rest
beat Aeneas, feared no Dios
quitting, not his style
wounded Ares -- (so embarrassed!)
neither strength nor guile
could defeat him -- Vulcan fit him
with a bronze cuirass
(yes, Hephaestus, do not pest us)
might have saved his ass
with Odysseus, was busy as
can be throughout the war
Iphigenia and many
other missions less abhorrent
but he somehow is unsung
and so here are some words:

Diomede was good in deed
but others get awards

The Aeneid, by old Virgil
having chosen to diverge
points to omens that the Romans
(who by then are quite a scourge)
are descended from Aeneas
and proclaims it from the dais
later, Romulus and Remus
having grown up in extremis
will have started ancient Rome
Virgil calling it his home

Homer gives us fewer details
of Aeneas' tale
Hector's cousins by the dozens
some would live and others fail
should the Iliad have really
added this -- it would ideally --
had it made such a prediction
then the claims of "just fan fiction"
wouldn't hound the old Aeneid
but for now, they do indeed

Hector contemplates the specter
of a Paris governed Troy
loves his brother like no other
not a prospect he'd enjoy
his Andromache's whole drama
still too distant to behold
so oblivious he's leaving us
he lets events unfold

gates thrown open, he is hopin'
he'll be equal to the task
his opponent though is on it
Patroclus had worn a mask
the man's lover, he'll discover
kills, then drags him through the dirt
Hector dragged more than a hectare
no use faulting Helen's skirt

era brought down by an error
had the Myrmidon been spared,
brave Achilles gave the willies
but remaining undeclared
had the Trojan theologians
with an edge, however slight
bad decision -- in Elysian fields
they still debate that fight