Archilles at Walden

Mary Wellemeyer writes:

Thoreau took few books to his cabin
at the edge of Walden Pond.
One of them was the Iliad,
Homer's tale of the siege of Troy.

He read it in the Greek,
and I imagine him by lantern light,
reading slowly and carefully through it,
translating, making sure he understood -
surrounded by the quiet.
He would have read it with his soul.

This man who later went to jail
for refusing to support a stupid war
has spent long hours with the tale of Troy.

Thoreau had never armed himself,
going over piece carefully,
praying that his arming
and his skill and luck
would bring him safely home from war,
but by reading Homer's words he must have known
the fear that went with putting on
even the most beautiful armor.

Home lets the reader know it:
Each piece of armor might be the difference
between life and death.
War is still like that.

And proud Achilles, berserk with grief-
Home does not spare the read there.
Battle madness is a tragedy too often seen
in fighting then, and since.

I imagine Thoreau reading deeply
of the risks of combat
and the dangers of moral compromise by generals.

Read slowly, from the Greek, in a cabin in the woods,
the tale unfolded a message of peace.
Peace spoke clearly through the same words
read by many would-be heroes
nurturing dreams of glory with those pages.

From her book of meditations admire the moon.