The Persians by Archilochos

Someone said you were dead it’s not that I didn’t care You were not bacterial You were not frozen water in winter You were not a hairbrush broken by hair You were a treasure of gold in the world-toilet For you appraised the world of grains And flung the earth to the earth The good wine is mixed with the bad wine, come to the wine jar’s lips and let’s unmix it Poor people only have one soul but you and I have two let’s go on vacation to Mexico or Rome Everybody returns home How should old people associate with young people? Shut up—Be like a compass. The King has erased your name from the book of speech