Could any of them, three, truly obsess a wise human
Meletus Lycon and Anytus: them; those who had accused he Socrates
Socrates, left to dialogue the ghosts of a mess before a bloody death
He knew, like they did too
The truth of his conviction
Their stupid question
Had Socrates “invented new gods”?
Critias as he would tell himself without making a sound
Critias a friend the coup giving aristocrat as good friends do
Water let to tell its wand
Critias from Sparta he would say to exclaim frivolity and dismay
Cristias who attacked Athens and reason for this day
As if to convey that life is inherently a hole in an old grave
And there was Alcibiades
A man he loved with body
Alcibiades of many military campaigns and possessed hearts
Who turned to the spartans who turned to the persians for glory’s sake
Where was justice in all of this, fuck!
He and his questions had wanted love and friendship in the end
Athens on its hind legs agitated excited and committed to death
He an invalid for in no way had he known himself
The personal now political the tragedy now total
Critias he exclaimed and also Charmides, Chaerephon, they were the dialogue
Alcibiades whom he had educated and reasoned with about virtue and self
Collective life tackled him down onto the ground as if to say that
All that is is and that will be a night of rain and depth.
And his love of Alcibiades
And not of one who is an every man
Was it justice in fact to see absolute beauty in an unvirtuous aristocrat
Is desire not the man in question itself
That of which I’m conscious and that of which I am not in one breath
And beauty he sought in a young man’s eyes
Who was gifted at birth all that property provides
How just is your questioning given your investment in beautiful and popular Alcibiades
Destined to rule Athens like or unlike Pericles
He would commit treason twice
Firstly in Sparta
Secondly with Persia
And what did you feel for Critias
Critias again a conniving aristocrat
Who were not your only friends in the end
Who did and do not want the good life for Athen’s mass.
What will you say
When asked why
Officially, why you created new gods
But the truth to this trial
Why did you feel such feelings for Alcibiades and Critias?
Why did you attack Athens Socrates,
why do you desire what you desire?
Meletus Lycon and Anytus, vengeful, aspiring demagogues.
Socrates reminds himself of Alcibiades
