Because a summer squall tossed the toys
Of Xerxes, son of Darius, ruler of Asia,
As he played in his bathtub, the Aegean;
Because the wine-drunk sea slammed into
A bridge of boats the emperor himself
Ordered built to span the Hellespont
So his armies might conquer Greece;
Because the obdurate ocean, as in a rage
Grown purple in the storm clouds’ shade,
Capsized four hundred Persian triremes,
Their cargoes and captains besides,
Four thousand men waded into the waves
To flog the foam with brass rods,
Repeating, as they flailed, a malediction:
O bitter water, your master punishes you
Because you have crossed him,
Though he never crossed you.