by Claire Scott
The boy decided to stay
in the belly of the horse
said someone needed to keep watch
his teeth chattering, his face milk white
he looked less than fifteen
thin, pale, a faint scribble of a mustache
legs that faltered when he stood
the soldiers left him there
grabbed their paper swords
eager to be immortalized in Homer’s epic
child soldiers playing in the sandbox of Troy
only this was real, the boy knew
he dreamt of clashing swords, curdled screams
cries of mother! mother!
mouths shaped in O’s of horror
the boy took a merchant ship back to Ithaca
a boat carrying olives and spice
no hankering for Cyclops or Circe
home ten years before Odysseus
staggered home in rags
the boy-man hoes rows of beans, of corn
his horses graze nearby
he hears a call and looks up to see
great golden wings of an eagle
oaring through the sky
he takes this knowing into his hands
bending into the hour
CLAIRE SCOTT is an award winning poet who has received multiple Pushcart Prize nominations. Her work has been accepted by the Atlanta Review, Bellevue Literary Review, New Ohio Review, Enizagam, and Healing Muse, among others. Claire is the author of Waiting to be Called and Until I Couldn’t. She is the co-author of Unfolding in Light: A Sisters’ Journey in Photography and Poetry.
Photo: “A Trojan horse in?…” by Pascal Maramis
Psaltery & Lyre 