That's a brilliant poem, Solifuge. I really like the repetition of important phrases, and the very theme. Also, "Promethean fruit aglow" is my new favourite description
I do think the last stanza could be improved slightly, (the last two lines are slightly off-pace, I'd say) but it's so slight that it really doesn't detract from it.
Two by me:
Where oft the Dionysian sits
And sups his cup of wine
In maddened thought of older days -
When gods controlled the heavens
And all the careful, rule-led ways
Of man were charted as the stars,
Each in his own allotted time -
There fills a pool made of eternity.
Here the fair drinker sighs into his cup
And thinks that pool is nestled in his glass,
Never aware that as he dreams, he drains
Into the stillness of the water, drop by drop.
The second one:
I am he who the poet said once flew
The sound-fraught bay, vex'd the dim seas
And sped the globe around to chase
The rainy Hyades.
I've smelled the ocean brine
And knew it well - each curve,
Each twist of its tempestuous swell
Laid open for my eyes.
The far-off wooded cove oft struck my sight
When on the sea-tossed boards,
And often when the ship was slow
Strained forward, ever forward
With thought and mind in equal store
Yearning to set my foot upon the distant shore.
But now a sea-dog left to dry,
I while away the dreary hours,
Well liked, and oft remarked to cry
“Oh how I'd sell my soul for but one fee,
To ride once more upon the rolling sea!”
Yet I am old, and age hath left me
But a shadow of my youth,
Kept nothing of my features bold,
But graven on me the likeness of death.
The blood that courses in my veins is cold,
But not from just the passing years.
You may not see it, who hears this tale
But I have wept a thousand tears
For every week away from Neptune's hold.
Take me on board and I will serve
As faithfully as God does man.
Let me once more feel land's retreat
And I will kneel down at your feet,
The broken remnant of a broken sailor.
Once, I fought on land and sea for glory,
For distinction dearly won, and wore it well,
But it does me no favour now
When I must ask with bated breath
If when you leave this god forsaken isle
You'll berth one more to sail before the swell.
Edit Edit Edit: Thanks to Smirk for the improved ending!