Monday, September 26, 2011

Odysseus' Folly


Bind me to the mast I said
Bind me good and tight
Plug your ears with wax I said
And don’t give into fright

Release me not till we’re long past
If I order or give plea
Loose me not until we’ve gone
Leave me bound here to this tree

We passed that fateful isle then
They were close enough to hear
The singing pulled at my frail soul
Its beauty brought forth a tear

I fought, I strove and tore my flesh
The ropes they bit and burned
I screamed, I wailed, I begged to leave
My efforts my crew just spurned

And when we passed away from there
I felt the loosing my mind
But the soul in me was rent in two
There’s no rest that I can find

I should have passed another way
I should have closed my ears
I should have stopped my wondering
That’s caused these restless years

And now I’m home; my journey’s done
I’m with family and my friends
I've battled monsters, men and seas
Yet the haunting song still rends

I hear it in the ocean’s waves
It’s hinted in the tide
The wind suggests its melody
From their voices I can’t hide

I’m called to cross the barren seas
I’m drawn to the rocky shore
I stand upon the brink of doom
And question what it was for

Why did I need to hear their song?
And pass so near that isle?
The sirens they are calling still
Across the watery miles

If I had stayed in ignorance
I may have saved my bliss
But now at home I’m wandering
Looking for what I miss

Some songs are much too wonderful
For these human ears to hear
And some are much too terrible
To add knowledge to innocent fear

I went through veiled and evil lands
I traversed the dim shadowed shore
I heard a dire forbidden song
’Fore Lethe I’ll rest nevermore



(This is an old one I never published on this blog for some reason. It seemed appropriate to post it now with the mythology theme over at the garden.)

4 comments:

  1. He really does need a long draft of Lethe's potion, doesn't he? I quite enjoyed this one.

    My picnic offering is here: http://shawnbird.com/2011/09/15/yesterday-i-wrote-a-love-song/

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  2. Splendid telling. So difficult to carry off a narrative poem with nothing jarring anywhere, but you've managed it.

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  3. A well told tale - although I noticed a hiccup or two in the rhythm in a few lines, overall it went swimmingly. LOL

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