Book Five (1 April 2023)

At

Post game

Refreshments,

Connecticut

Players recognised

New York's, members of the 

Same, border line country club.



Fight

Paused, dead

Bodies burned,

Greeks raised walls, dug

Trenches, Poseidon

Objected, Zeus agreed,

All traces would be erased.



Greek 

Goddess

Figured, league 

Trophy, won by

Prep school football team 

With year's best overall 

Statistics: wins, losses, size.



School's 

Soccer 

Match a loss:

Veteran team

Members had chosen 

To dump sport by hyped, new

Program, and facilities.



Zeus

Forbade

God, goddess

Interventions,

Seated on Ida,

Weighed fates of Achaians,

Trojans, at war's resumption.



School 

Trophy 

Snatched by league 

Rival last year

At homecoming, new

Coach, players, quarterback, 

Factored in revised game plan.



Last

Year's doomed,

Team lineup,

Blamed for trophy 

Loss, demoted to 

Second-string bench; soccer

Standouts welcomed in lineup.



Zeus

Thundered,

Flashed lightening,

Hektor attacked,

Hera, Athena, 

Dressed for fight, sent back to 

Olympus, mortals' fates sealed.



His

Star-crossed 

Center, guards,

Scrutinized, left

Suited up to sit 

Tight- except for practice-

While course of game unfolded.



Fresh

Players 

Mesmerized

By war tactics 

Embedded in plays,

Masterful maneuvers 

Strategised on gym chalkboard.



Mad

Driven,

Admitted

Agamemnon,

Group with pledges sworn

By him sent with hopes to 

Appease Achilles' anger.



He

Offered,

Through soccer

Coach, guarantee 

Of actual game 

Time participation 

To sidelined football converts.



Punched

Balls, hard

Tackles, (post

Whistle), during 

Practice vented the 

Frustrations of back bench 

With the fresh blood infusion.



Found

Strumming 

His lyre,

Achilles sang, 

Patroklos listened,

Greeted guests, prepared, served

Feast, considered their offer.



Two

Boys glued,

One, tongue tied,

Spoke through other,

Former school classmates,

Now roommates, split Fall sports

Between soccer, and football.



Bare

Chested,

Cross country 

Boys streaked, above 

Conscripts locked inside 

Chalked lines, along dirt paths

Carved by local hunt riders.




Still

Angered,

Dishonoured,

Achilles spurned

Agamemnon's gifts, 

Wouldn't rejoin battle 

Until Hektor breached the ships.



Sixth

Formers

Used secret

Ballot to choose

School's head boy, allowed

To act behind scenes, peer

Marked absences disappeared.




{18 stanzas/page}

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