Old Men's Voices

 92-196 4-5-92

OLD MEN'S VOICES

The old men's voices
Chanted in shrill tenors
And tremulous baritones
And gravelly basso profundos
Chanting at the end
Of the colonnade,
Their banquet spread

And Charon by the river
Waiting for their dead.
I could hear their voices
Like a wild wind
Were calling in from
The sea, calling me.
I pulled back the leash

And Trooper stopped to listen.
"There is still much strength
Left to me. I have no need
Of thee." Trooper heard them
Then and growled, and they
Became a flock of doves
Flying into the future.