Farsighted
“Things that inadvertantly shape us draw upon structures, forms, legends, myths, which have their origin in ancient Mediterranean cultures.” ~ Michael Schmidt, The First Poets
The temples stand still, still and broken. They
Refuse to be forgotten or unseen.
When god-like earthquake comes, they barely sway
Up on their rocky heights. Now they are clean
Of paint across their surfaces, too bright
In Attic sunlight in their ancient ways.
Instead we have grown used to brilliant white
Stone, brilliant as the legends, myths, and blaze
Of lyrics, epics, Sappho, Pindar’s odes
And Homer, brilliant in his blindness, lines
Outliving Chares’ Colossus of Rhodes.
Millennia later we drink their wines
Of architraves and columns and those wide,
Blank statue eyes that, still, act as our guide.