01/01/01 (MINUS 1) A.D.

On the eve of the true
           millennium,
      we sent desperate
runners to
             Marathon,

     and battled with
              Jamie on the
plains of Syracuse,
                  until, harried
and broken, he
             surrendered, agreeing
     at last to start his
term paper on
            “Slavery in Ancient
     Greece,”

   discovering that this great
                  civilization, with its
         democracy, its philosophy, its
Socrates and Pericles,

        rested on the tired backs
of slaves,

    and relieved, two thousand
               years later, I sat down
to read Leaves of Grass,
             while Sandy cleaned

the house, and put in
              the second wash.

Schechter’s Apology
December 31, 2000

All written material © Bill Schechter, 2016
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