Back Through Time Poem by Michael William

I guess it’s a long way between
here and Greece
but as I look out the window tonight
I’m suddenly thinking about
the Ancient world, about Socrates
refusing to escape
his own execution, about Plato
and Aristotle and
then I start thinking
about Rome
and Beothius in his cell and I guess
it just goes on from there...

I can hear Julia in the kitchen
making a sandwich
the small clunk
of the mayonaise on the counter
the soft scratching of a knife of the glass of the jar

Some women should have wars fought for them
or at least be seduced
by a god parading in one strange body
or another but I guess the best they get sometimes
is a turkey sandwich
with brand name mayonaise
and mustard and a half-bottle
of Old Crow
maybe even a light rain falling
as night comes on
over the lake

and somewhere maybe
four thousand years later
a young Greek
staring out at the Mediterranian,
his passion growing stronger
as it careens back through time towards her.