Has no alternative

Think of the moment when far from land

Molested by a mile-a-minute wind

The ocean starts to roll, then rear, then roar

Over itself in rank on rank of waves

Their sides so steep their smoky crests so high

300,000 plunging tons of aircraft carrier

Dare not sport its beam.

But Troy, afraid, yet more afraid

Lest any lord of theirs should notice any of them

Flinching behind his mask

Has no alternative.

Just as those waves

Grow closer as they mount the continental shelf

Lift into breakers scoop the blue and then

Smother the glistening shingle

Logue's Homer, All Day Permanent Red: War Music Continued, Faber and Faber, 2003.