Odyssey

Muse,tell me of this man of wit,who roamed long yearsafter he had sackedTroy’s sacred streets.

All the restwho had escaped death,returned,fleeing battle and the sea;only Odysseus,captive of a goddess,desperate and home-sick,thought but of his wife and palace;but Calypso,that nymph and spirit,yearning in the furrowed rock-shelf,burnedand sought to be his mistress;but years passed,the time was ripe,the gods decreed,(although traitors plotto betray him in his own court,)he was to returnto Ithaca;and all the gods pitied him;but Poseidonsteadfast to the lasthatedgod-like Odysseus.

The sea-god visiteda distant folk,Ethiopians,who at the edge of earthare divided into two parts,(half watch the sun rise,half, the sun set,)there the hecatombof slain sheep and oxenawait his revels:and while he rejoiced,seated at the feast,the rest of the godsgathered in the palace of Olympian Zeus;and the father of men and of gods spoke thus:(for he remembered bright Egisthus,slain of Agamemnon’s child,great Orestes:)

O you spirits,how men hate the gods,for they say evil comes of us,when they themselves,by their own wickedness,court perilbeyond their fate;so Egisthus, defiant,sought Agamemnon’s wifeand slew Agamemnonreturning to his own palace,though we ourselvessent bright Hermes,slayer of Argos,to warn himlest Orestes,attaining to man’s estate,demand his inheritanceand take vengeance:we forbade him to strike the king,we warned him to respect his wife:but could Hermesof gracious aspect,subtle with kindly speech,thus avert the foul work?

Then the grey-eyed Athene,the goddess, spoke:O my father, Kronos begot,first among the great,his death at least was just,so may all perish who err thus;but my heart is rentfor the prudent Odysseus,who, exiled from his friends,is kept too long distressedin an island, sea swept,in the sea midst,a forest island,haunt of a spirit,child of Atlas,crafty of thought,who knows the sea depth,who supports the high pillarswhich cut sky from earth;it is his childwho keeps Odysseuslamenting with broken heart,ceaseless to tempt himwith soft and tender speech,that he forget Ithaca;but Odysseus,yearning to see but the smokedrift above his own house,prefers death;your heart, is it not touched,O Olympian?did not Odysseus please youwhen he made sacrificebefore the Grecian shipsin great Troy?why are you angry, Zeus?

Then Zeus,keeper of the clouds,answering her, spoke:O my child,what quaint wordshave sped your lips,for how could I forgetthe god-like Odysseus,a spirit surpassing men,first to make sacrificeto the deathlessin the sky-space?but Poseidongirder of earth,though yet he spares his life,nurtures unending hate;he goads him from place to placebecause of the Cyclopsblinded of Odysseus,Polyphemus, half-god,greatest of the Cyclops,whom the nymph Thoosa,child of Phorcys,king of the waste sea, begotwhen she lay with Poseidonamong the shallow rocks:but come,let us plotto reinstate Odysseus,and Poseidon must abandon his wrath;for what can one god accomplish,striving aloneto defy all the deathless?

Then the grey-eyed Athene,the goddess, spoke:O my father, Kronos begot,first among the great,if then it seems justto the highest,that Odysseus returnto his own house,let us swiftly sendHermes, slayer of Argos,your attendant,that he stateto the fair-haired nymph,our irrevocable wish,that Odysseus,valiant of heart,be sent back:and I will depart to Ithaca,to incite his son,to put courage in his heart,that he call to the market placethe long-haired Greeksand shut his gatesto the pretendantswho ceaselessly devour his flocks,sheep and horned oxenof gentle pace:that he strivefor his father’s sakeand gain favourin men’s thoughts,I will send him to Sparta,to Pylos’ sandy waste.

She spokeand about her feetclasped bright sandals,gold-wrought, imperishable,which lift her above sea,across the land stretch,wind-like,like the wind breath.