Classical Poetry

The death of Didier the savant

How should I handle such Atlas-like grief?*
As weighty as heaven, light as Fontaine,†
See where my dearest friend's bones have lain!
Stones for his bed brings sorrow, small relief,
My heart might burst, my being burns with pain!
His spirit stood as tall as Ilion.‡
His mind as the highest tower which fell
Oh Didier! Your chariot like Phæthon ά
Careered off its usual course, force impelled
You to be hurled headlong, hurtled down where
As bright Phæthon was flung with his blazing star,
Struck by the lightning bolt of Jupiter,
Pieces of wrecked chariot scattered far,
Woe! Wail! Everlasting sorrow's song,
For him whom Fate has cursed sings but one note:
Perpetual misery, lament and wrong!
No! This cannot be! That mighty Jove smote
My dearest most treasured friend in the world!
Heaven! Fling wide your gates for Didier!
Not since Becket Ω have your halls been so filled
With such a worthy spirit as his! Nay!
Not since Socrates fell by hemlock's hand!
So Didier's soul soars, graces heaven,
Holding the final desert's grain of sand
In his palm, like Blake,θ never forgotten.

* Euripides' Troades, 1.100

† Jean de la Fontaine (1621-1695) French speaking poet, famous for his fables, from Belgium (Namur) near where Didier was born.

‡ Ilion or Ilium is another name for the city of Troy (in Anatolia) which fell circa 1178 B.C.E. according to the archæological record and astronomical calculation of an eclipse at around that time.

ά Ovid's Metamorphoses, 2.34

Ω Thomas [A] Becket (ca.1119-1170 C.E.) English clergyman, Francophone and someone Didier admired very much.

θ William Blake (1725-1827) English limner, engraver and poet, someone Didier would sometimes quote. There is a street named after him in the city of Nancy, near Les Vosges where Didier lived.