My friends have aged
homer after a second glass
tells the same stories
about soviet army service
in the black sea fleet
freighting some radioactive cargo
nearly triggered a war but everything
ended successfully and keeps repeating cherchez la femme
dante is cool too doesn't distinguish between the dead
and the not yet dead looks all around the table at jericho first
with russian curse words
I'm no better
having embraced alzheimer I keep explaining
about god's bones ashes getting more and more drunk
then dancing with helen
some odysseus starts a fight
we retreat from this hell one by one
friends I thought
sticking together but apparently poets
each with his own vision of the afterlife

Translated by Harvey L. Hix and the author