by Lisa Stice

O composer of epics, chronicles
of heroes as they’re seen through children’s eyes.
You must have told us of Odysseus
as Telemachus saw him: taller than
the trees themselves, smarter than the scholars,
slayer of monsters, master of the sea.
A child believes his father will return
and even when tied to the mast, can calm
the wildest tempests, loudest furies.