Edward Field
HYDRA
This island whose name means water
Never had Gods and temples as other Greek islands had;
It
never was the home of monsters with ferocious heads
And maybe it wasn't even there.
But a few centuries ago
As
though it had just risen from the sea
Men saw stones and pine-trees on the slopes
And with the stones made houses and with the trees made ships.
And as naturally as fish swim
The ships went sailing;
And as naturally as the sun rises
The boys grew into heroes and sailed to war.
But the heroes were foolhardy as heroes are
So although they were brave and did amazing things
The ships were sunk at last
And the handsome heroes lay on the ocean floor.
Wars over, fame won, the island settled down,
But with the trees all gone, the soil blew away to sea;
The houses began to crumble,
And the island bleached in the sun to anonymity.
The name means water but now even the wells are drying
And no one expects the rock to grow trees again;
While the waters push gently on its shores waiting
For the island to sink quietly back in the sea.
