A modern Ulysses

Some elements of the human experience remain unchanged.

When one speaks of Greeks

They often mean the old ones

Socrates, Homer, Aristotle

Western thought comes from them.

When one speaks of Geeks

They often mean the new ones

Cohen, Turing, Zuckerburg

(The old ones bit the c**k).

Despite this similarity,

It's not what I'm writing of

Indeed, it's just

an amusing anecdote.

What I'm writing of

is much deeper,

and would earn me

a higher grade in English class.

Because, as I said initially,

when one thinks of Greeks,

they think of the old ones,

and they really think of their legacy.

Really, every work is redundant

after Homer, originality died

characters are still new,

and can still engage.

But the basic plot remains the same.

When one reads the story of Ulysses

(or as some would call Odysseus),

can one not help but relate?

College would seem

like its own Troy.

Separated from family, friends, home.

So too would Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan

A city on a hill.

So when you go to far off places

on adventures far from home, love, life.

Just remember in whose footsteps you walk.

As you, are a modern Ulysses.

Author's Note

The second stanza fourth line shouldn't be censored. It's not a sexual reference gosh darn it!