TWO FRIENDS and a SKINFUL of WINE
Sisyphus and Diogenes are good friends
who meet every hundred years (give or take)
to compare notes, which Dio calls
Unprogress Reports.
Dio has a sense of humour.
Syph, not so much.
They meet at a tiny wayside inn
nestled in the jagged shadows
of Syph's mountain, 'cause he needs
to stay close to his rock
and Dio does a lot of walking
anyway.
They both order roasted lamb
(the only meat on the menu)
and roasted potato
(the only vegetable on the menu)
and a skinful of the potent red wine
their host makes in the same hut
where he slaughters the lambs.
Syph always throws back
three mugs in a hurry and
just as quickly
becomes morose and snarly--
“goes with the nature of m'work,”
he slurs.
Dio says “No! as symbols
we fill the same bill--
you're as solid as rock,
but not “over the hill”.
(Syph is always too drunk,
so misses the joke).
Dio finishes off with
“I'm subtle and ironic.”
And so it goes every one hundred years,
two old friends
mouthing
the same old words,
their voices drifting
quietly on the shadows
of the insurmountable mountain
that protects and obstructs
the Truth.
Dio always ends the evening
talking to the thinning shadows, but
the lamb is always tasty,
the wine rich and deep red.
© clark cook
