Gerontion(In Memory Of Prince Phillip, Duke Of Edinburgh) Poem by ENOCH JOHN

The renaissance of past ideals, dormant in my heart,
That germinated in my spring, and now as gerontion,
Has spread its branches almost everywhere.
It matters much that we allow
No impediments to hinder our comprehension
Of the manner in which a man chooses to live his life.
I have sought my epiphany in my own way, and
My life has grown somewhat into a book of adventure.

Now I wear a crown of old age with sagacity as sceptre,
And I cannot part from adventure: I will roam
the North Sea and criss cross the Channel and beyond
Seeking like Ulysses, those new things.
I am a free spirit and cannot rest
Unless I can innovate.Look! Here is my horse,
Or my ship waiting in the English harbour,
To feel the salted sea on my cheeks,
Riding on the corrugated waves of ocean and time,
Almost back to a past mythology of Aegean Sea and battle.
Almost vicissitudinary.And epochal.

Daguerrotypes and tabloids alike,
Have documented most of my life.

The ancient light that reflected from Ulysses' shield,
Has brought some illumination to me;
Part of his lasting legacy: Ulysses and his ship;
Me: as seafarer and an award that bears my nomenclature-
As a Grecian born prince now 'en morphed' into a
quintessential British prince,
To serve that my service can be sempiturnal.

I can hardly find some ponderous hexameters and
pentameters
To describe my life but at least I can invoke
Horace's 'bis repetita placent'(of the repetition of things) ;
I leave behind my family and an aged wife whom I dearly love
Above all my worldly possessions,
And for her I sing a syntax of praise;
She, who has been friend, my love, my liege,
A rare jewel in a treasure box indeed.