Brave Ulysses's Lament Poem by William L Roberts

Frequenting a chatroom late one night,
A fellow traveler and I conversed,
How his words burned fast and bright!

'I've seen a land of pure delight,
Where everlasting Spring does abide
Where happy people forever reside
In days of talk and laughter,
In nights of endless pleasure.

'I've seen the golden bridge
That leads to that blessed land,
A golden bridge perpetually in fog,
And on that bridge, a long and eager throng.
As each of that number crossed
Their age, imperfections and all
That'd ever gone wrong
Steamed away into the mist,
So they stepped into the sun
More perfect than indeed they'd ever been,
Eager to wander down avenues of leafy green,
Eager to enter bars
And drink in gardens of flowers
Brighter than any ever seen.

'I knew my friend,
That I'd be forever cursed,
If I couldn't find my way within.'

From upstairs I heard your sleepy voice,
'Honey, it's late, stop working and come to bed.'
With his words so filling me with thirst,
I replied, 'Soon! Soon! this project's the worst! '

I looked back, it'd only been a second,
But his typing'd filled the window,
'How long I wandered I don't know.
Sometimes I saw that land, sometimes no,
But always it burned within my mind.

'For a time I traveled with a band
Who played songs of such beauty
They made my heart soar.
One day I saw them cross
Leaving me behind.

'Then I stumbled upon an artist colony
Whose paintings of young beauty
Made my heart sore.
One day I watched them cross
Leaving me behind.

'I joined a society of visionaries
Whose drugged dreams (much the same as these)
Made my stomach sour.
One day I watched them cross
Yet I remained behind.

'Then I found a young love
Whose words of laughter and wit
Made my soul flower.
Yet one day she too crossed,
And I, I was left behind.

'At last I stood in the mist, alone,
Looking to that bright and shining land.
I stood on a rock and wept
And I saw for the first time -
All about me on that rocky plain -
Bodies, dead, twisted from thirst and pain,
I knew then I'd indeed been well and truly cursed.

'So I gave it up and turned my heart for home.
There I found my wife gone,
My children strange and grown,
And I was left with just the broken shell
Of something I'd never known.
Surely seeking heaven leads to hell.'

'Idiot, ' I muttered and filled with restless zest
To other sites took my fevered quest
For pics of beautiful girls undressed.