ODYSSEUS AT THE DERBY.
Reading edition
[Racing men will not need to be reminded that Polumetis (many-counselled) is named after a common epithet of the hero of the Odyssey.]
At times the pulse of memory is stirred Out of a chronic state of coma By just a poignant tune, a rhythmic word, A whiff of some refined aroma, And lo! the brain is made aware Of records which it didn't know were there. So in a sudden moment I was shot Back to my boyhood and the highly Instructive works of Homer, long forgot, And with the late Odysseus (wily) Ploughed once again the wine-red deep On drawing Polumetis in a sweep. Oh, "many-counselled" hero! if a horse Your attributes may also borrow, Lend him your cunning round the Derby course, Teach him a thing or two to-morrow, That at the end it may be said: "He did a great performance with his head." As you contrived by tricks of crafty skill Ever to down your foes and flatten 'em, So may he lie low going up the hill, Secure the inside berth at Tattenham, And do a finish up the straight Swift as your shafts that sealed the suitors' fate! Fortune attend his name, though some deplore Its pedantry, and I assume it is Likely, from what I know of bookies' lore, That on the rails he'll be "Poloometis"; For me, I do not care two pins How they pronounce him, if he only wins. O. S.