Unmourned to Orcus - Jack D. Harvey

Wait, the hero,

maybe half a god

is coming,

Caesar or his like,

even Hercules;

hail ceaselessly,

stay put,

don't move an inch,

look out for everything,

look out for a triumphant entrance,

big enough to show even

heroes and demigods deign

to pass pass pass by

on their way to Olympus

or the lord of the shadows.

Salute, raise your arms, swoon,

but don't hail the wrong Hercules

screaming in the Nessus shirt

or Caesar, stuck with knives;

they don't exactly exist that way.

You nothings, you nobodies

crowding the streets

be thankful you're ciphers,

bless your stars

you didn't end up

with that Nessus shirt

or sharp steel;

there's more

to being big

than fame and glory

or a name babbled away

down the centuries;

you'll never know it,

groundlings, on your way

unmourned, unsung,

silent and nameless,

one after another going 

going, oblivious, gone down 

forever to Hades.

Originally published by Pulsebeat, May 2023

Jack D. Harvey’s poetry has appeared in Scrivener, The Comstock Review, Valparaiso Poetry Review, Typishly Literary Magazine, The Antioch Review, The Piedmont Poetry Journal and elsewhere. The author has been a Pushcart nominee and over the years has been published in a few anthologies. 

The author has been writing poetry since he was sixteen and lives in a small town near Albany, New York.