The Companions of Odysseus in Hades

Since we still had a little

Of the rusk left, what fools

To eat, against the rules,

The Sun’s slow-moving cattle,

Each ox huge as a tank — 

A wall you’d have to siege

For forty years to reach

A star, a hero’s rank.

We starved on the back of the earth,

But when we’d stuffed ourselves,

We tumbled to these delves,

Numbskulls, fed up with dearth.