The Precedent Poem by Patrick Czyz

There exists a literary precedent.
Homer, the blind bard, gifted the Greeks
Tales of his culture that did not write.
Virgil, the patriot, took to his duty by
Penning an epic for his nation in mythic proportions.
The Bible, whose verses tell of testaments
Of God and man, fire and fury, floods and peace,
Took the human hand by divine decree.
Now, in a language that is not mine, on land
I no longer can claim, I hope to trace the footsteps,
Now washed over by time and ice and waves,
Of the Thules who truly found that new world.
I ought to see a reflection of myself in a pond
When light itself is not masked by prolonged polar nights,
Bedighted with a mask of the walrus, the creature
Whose spirit and countenance had long borne the cold
And shakes of the sea, indeed, much better than can I.
Lands cannot speak, but bestow the equality of survival
Common to the greatest bear and the littlest of fish…and to me.
The fur bears the frigid range when skin cannot.
And the whale provides in the absence of banquets.
To have a home without a house, treasure without gold,
Now here is my ancestors' precedent, the atavistic shoulder.