(Aegeus' Lament—as performed by
the ghost of Peter O’Toole)
Do not loosen the bulging
mouth of the wineskin
until you have reached
the height of Athens,
lest you die of grief.
What the hell was that
supposed to mean?
I didn't have a clue
so went to see a king
given to such things
and he loosened more
than a wineskin's mouth
I'll tell you. To mess with
the gods Is never wise.
The outcome is always
pre-determined and never
to your advantage. Yet
mess I did. The same
with drink and women
but any shenanigans
involving all three, well
I should have steered clear,
a set up for sure, but what,
what was I really to do?
The wine was strong,
my desire stronger, and
the look in her eyes
when she lifted her tunic
immortal. I swear I nurse
the hangover still. And
what was I really to do
about the Cretans? Tell me,
what was I to do? To be
a leader who is led is as
unpleasant as it sounds
and as inevitable—to be
led by one's own vanity
as I was when I sent
another man's son
to a most certain death
impaled on the horns
of that bull in Marathon.
And to be led to stand
on this height of land
overlooking my kingdom
and what will become
my sea, awaiting
the unlikely return
of my only son. But
what choice did I have?
Women had stopped
allowing their husbands
(or anyone else's)
to mount them for fear
of having one of their own
chosen and led down
the gang-plank to be
devoured by that beast
in a dead-end corridor
littered with the bones
of Athenian youth, thus
recharging another
9 years of grief. This
would never do. So
I knew there was little
I could do when my
beautiful Theseus
came to me with the
certainty of one doing
the business of the gods.
He made a good case
encased as he was
in his perfect will,
my perfect son.
Black sail or white
was all I asked of him.
What, he replied
with his mother's smile,
could possibly
go wrong?
George Slobodzian's work has appeared in literary magazines across Canada. Clinical Studies, a book of poetry, was published by DC Books, and a book of his poems was translated into German and published by Mattes Verlag of Heidelberg.