The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel

the sound of a loved voice, or has my mind gone daft?”

  But Granite had already heard, pushed past the guards,

  then crossed the courtyard with great strides, sped up the stairs

  with pounding heart, while the archer followed with swift strides. 1065

  Motionless in his crimson plumes on his high throne

  the king with haughty glances watched his chiefs adore

  his bright green sandals and his shadow of azure hue.

  When Granite saw him shining in the flickering light

  he yelled and hardly touched the ground from his great joy; 1070

  Rocky screeched like a hungry vulture, and the black slaves scattered.

  For a long time both wept together in close embrace

  until the archer came and fondled the broad back

  and the long, regal hair of his now famous friend.

  “My brothers, stop at length your fondling and your tears, 1075

  it’s time for the dust clouds to settle! Let’s see the light!”

  But the tall mountain bodies wept and sometimes laughed

  nor would they deign to place a halter round their hearts.

  Yet all good things on earth draw but a short breath,

  so doors were shut and all three friends sat down to feast, 1080

  and ate and drank like dragons while the black slaves scurried.

  They sent a messenger then to play a joke on glutton:

  “Comrade, kick up the dust and come, even though you’re eating!

  Blacks have attacked us! Hurry! Let’s die together at least!”

  Then their great leader filled a wine-bowl up to the brim 1085

  and drained it to the good health of his new-wreathed friend:

  “Comrades, our god is lucky, fearless, and most great,

  and yet most honored, for great souls like us support him.

  Remember, friends, how he set forth with filthy rags,

  how hunger flailed his entrails, how fear shook his mind, 1090

  how all the beasts in the wild lands once rushed to eat him,

  and now see how he looms with all his regal feathers!

  Rocky, don’t tell us yet how you climbed this high throne,

  I like to cup the marvel mute now in both hands.”

  But Granite poked the knees of his long-wished-for friend: 1095

  “Don’t listen to that sly dissembling head that now

  pretends his hard heart does not long to hear you speak;

  dear friend, desire kicks him hard, and he’s all humbug!”

  Then Rocky laughed and gazed long in the archer’s eyes:

  “The wine you’ve fed us with, lone man, has gone to our heads. 1100

  When you once left us on the bank, I rose in spite,

  tightened my belt and brains, then took the road due south,

  and as I passed through deserts, hungry, and beasts dashed

  to eat my sun-scorched body and to drink my soul,

  your strong shade always stood close by and gave me comfort 1105

  ‘Onward, my soul!’ I yelled, ‘this is the road to freedom!’”

  He was still speaking when a shadow crushed the feast,

  and glutton panted past the threshold, fiercely armed,

  but when he saw feasts and not fights, he laughed and roared:

  “Mocker of God, you’ve fooled me! Phew, I’m out of breath! 1110

  What’s this? A three-course dinner and a well-spread feast?”

  Then Rocky’s laughing voice greeted his long-lost friend:

  “A thousand welcomes, fat ass, to my lordly suite!”

  Greedy-guts heard and lost his wits, leapt to the table,

  and when he saw proud Rocky high on his lion throne, 1115

  he moaned and grabbed his much-loved friend in his fat arms:

  “Fellows, I think this life’s gone daft and turned to myth!

  Five or six hoodlums once upon a time set sail;

  some were bewitched, some died mid-journey, but one tramp

  cut off all by himself in a good hour, and now 1120

  behold him, a great King of Blacks at the world’s end!

  I’m afraid, my lads, that we’ll awake one day and find

  we’re still in Ithaca’s bay, dead drunk on its far beach,

  still gazing on the spreading sea with brimming eyes,

  and that this famous voyage of ours was but a wine-dream.” 1125

  Then well-mouth fell upon the food and licked it clean,

  and when he’d finished, he recalled his friend and sighed:

  “Ah, that poor scrawny eagle’s egg, may it fare well!

  If only he were here to play his pipe now, lads!”

  He murmured sadly and his popeyes brimmed with tears. 1130

  “I swore by the great sun I’d never betray him, lads,

  not even when birds should build their nests within my skull.”

  As he was speaking, the witch doctor shook in sleep

  and filled the air with the harsh sound of jangling bells.

  “Awake, great conjurer!” shouted Rocky’s regal mouth. 1135

  “They say your mind’s as sharp as swords that cut through air,

  it cleaves the hills like mist and scatters all the woods,

  and in their open baskets Time and Place, your slaves,

  bring us the past and future like refreshing fruits.

  Throw magic in our eyes to see him we desire.” 1140

  The king then rose and raised the old man from his bench,

  but he sprawled on the ground where all his strength poured out

  like undiluted wine until the wolf-pack’s brains grew dim.

  As Rocky turned and beckoned then to his old friends,

  the tables disappeared like mist and the walls vanished, 1145

  a swirling blaze unwrung the temples of each man,

  and lo, the piper, dressed in a bird’s yellow plumes,

  and smeared with grease, hopped far off on a distant road

  and with an incense burner smoked his woodblock god.

  Two girls with jugs poised on their heads were passing by, 1150

  but when they saw him from afar they fell to the ground

  and he with closed eyes spit three times to exorcise them;

  his narrow back hunched heavily in the burning sun,

  and then the piper vanished in thick clouds of dust.

  The palace walls sprang up once more, the feast took shape, 1155

  the three friends still held winecups to their trembling lips,

  but greedy-guts felt stifled and rose to breathe clear air:

  “Everything seems dissolved in mist! By God, I’m drunk!

  Brothers, I’m off to the high hills to stretch on stones.”

  Then the much-suffering man mocked at his own proud mind: 1160

  “For shame! You swagger like a turkey, bite like ticks,

  swell like an evil blister and deform the soul;

  you long for flesh and ships and seas, for bread and meat

  to work your miracles, to perform your gallant deeds,

  but, O my mind, can you stand still in empty air 1165

  without ship, body, god, or any earthly aid

  and blow on ships and flesh and scatter them all like mist?”

  Thus did he rub and pummel his mind’s haughty face

  and for an hour he envied those exotic powers

  with which the old man ruled and marshaled all the winds. 1170

  But the proud man grew calm again, turned to the feast,

  seated drunk glutton to his right and filled his bowl:

  “Here’s to your health, you sot!” “And here’s to yours, you grasping hawk!”

  They ate and drank for three whole days, talked three whole nights,

  but on the fourth dawn the world-wanderer raised his hand: 1175

  “We’ve had a giddy shindig, lads, a rousing, bang-up time,

  but such a life is only fit f
or brainless gods

  and scorned by the heart-battling soul of mortal man.

  Aye, Rocky, arrogant body, eagle-feathered soul,

  it’s time to free yourself from joy. Cast off your crown!” 1180

  But the cross-eagle honed his claws and scratched the boards:

  “You know that I don’t care for joys or thrones and that

  a sword-cut suits my skull much better than gold crowns,

  and yet the dangers here and the spoils both are good.

  My mind has grabbed all Africa in its eagle claws; 1185

  I shall make war, string captive gods in hanging clumps,

  and when I’ve watered all my fields and fed my trees

  with thick and fruitful blood, then I shall spread my wings

  above my people with great peace and hatch man’s virtues.

  To these poor blacks I shall bring friendship, freedom, light, 1190

  and thus fulfill man’s highest duty before I die:

  to leave life taller by a head to all my sons.”

  Majestic Rocky stopped, although his mind still seethed,

  then reached his firm hand and caressed his master’s knee:

  “Forgive me, captain, I but follow in your own steps; 1195

  I want, with your own blessing, to go far beyond

  your own twelve exploits and your own twelve arrowed axes.”

  But Kentaur scowled and grabbed his brimming bowl with rage,

  then set it down again with stubbornness and cried:

  “What rant! There’s not a thirteenth ax in all this world!” 1200

  The proud king sighed and with a heavy voice replied:

  “The mind can string a thousand axes on earth still

  and only Death would be the final bloodstained ax.”

  But glutton was not appeased and sharply probed his friend:

  “By God, I’m struck dumb that our chief’s most trusted spear, 1205

  you, who rejoiced to fight once mutely in his shade,

  have grown so bold and rear your head with your own banner!”

  But Rocky laughed and fondled his friend’s shaggy back:

  “You’ve found it, friend! I raise the flag of freedom high

  exactly because I am our chief’s most trusted hound! 1210

  Hasn’t he often cried, ‘Comrades, break free of me!’

  Archer, I’ve studied your words well. Good health! Goodbye!”

  Deep in his heart the bold bellwether felt his soul

  being torn apart as though a viper was giving birth,

  but in his friend’s last feast he raised his cup with calm: 1215

  “When I was born, they say, it was not day or night

  but that the black and the white hours both gaped wide,

  and that’s why I’ve a wind-chart in my breast for heart,

  why each new step I take is a new road each moment,

  and why my every thought is a splendid star that pours 1220

  and flashes with green-azure flames in the vast dark.

  Rocky, I watch you fluttering your new wings to flee,

  and all new roads within me fall supine and beckon.

  I can still grab you by your loins and cast you down,

  or I can see you off, unruffled, with great calm, 1225

  or like a grandfather I can place my heavy hands

  on your black locks and bless the holy strength of youth;

  my heartbeats are proud peacocks that spread haughty tails.”

  The archer ceased, then stretched his eyebrows like curved bows

  and his three friends stood motionless for him to shoot. 1230

  Then Rocky’s tranquil and unquivering voice was heard:

  “I wait for all things calmly and I welcome all,

  nor do I know, I swear, whether my wide heart longs

  for strife or peace or your grave blessing. All are welcome!”

  The seven-souled man smiled profoundly, spread his hands, 1235

  and grasped his friend’s black locks in both his fists:

  “Blessed be the bold, audacious daring of your youth,

  steady your knees, my friend, don’t let my blessing throw you:

  Now may that winnower God, who scatters age like chaff,

  grant you the power to cast the disk of earth much further! 1240

  Dear God, how many foaming seas, how much green earth,

  how many multicolored birds and sweet desires

  I’ll never have time enough to taste before I croak

  like a poor beggar with outstretched and greedy palms!

  May you reach that far land I’ve aimed at since my birth 1245

  and, if you can, load my large flowering tree with fruit.”

  He spoke, then bowed his own gray head and begged his friend

  to grasp it with both hands and bless him in return,

  but startled Rocky flung his hands out wide and cried:

  “Lone man, it’s not for me to stretch my hands and bless you!” 1250

  But the soul-seizer stooped and spoke with a wry smile:

  “It’s not on Rocky that I call, but on all youth,

  on all disdainful youth to care for me in my old age.”

  Then Rocky seized the lone man’s graying head with fear

  and moaned as though he held the world’s head in his hands: 1255

  “Great head, unsated mouth and towering heart, O father,

  you are the earth’s green fertile vineyards, we the grapes,

  you are the endless sea and we the ephemeral foam,

  you are the tree of life and we the boughs and leaves

  where we strive ceaselessly, O lord, to hang both fruit 1260

  and flower on your high summits and your deep embrace.

  I give my mind brave counsel and I goad my heart,

  but all in vain—I’ve longed for one thing all my life:

  never to flee from out your dark and dreadful shade!”

  He spoke and his eyes brimmed, but he could not release 1265

  that heavy curly head he’d seized with such great fear,

  and sentimental Kentaur brimmed the bowls with wine:

  “You’ve got me bawling, friends, both of you spoke so fine,

  but the sun’s mounted high and calls us to take the road;

  archer, you’ve winnowed well, and only two remain. 1270

  Your health, King of the Wilds, and your good hour, master;

  may fate, that lamia, fix it so we’ll meet one day

  in a small boat, once more stripped down to rag and bone,

  with a wind blowing, and the piper sweetly playing.”

  Then the soul-snatcher’s black eyes shone with tranquil light 1275

  and he stood straight and drained his brimming cup of wine:

  “One night on a small island at the world’s far end

  I bid my son farewell; it was no dream, and I

  recall it hurt, for it’s most difficult here on earth,

  where bodies lie in tight embrace and need each other, 1280

  to part forever from son, parents, wife, or wealth.

  But new farewells and strong new pains accost us now;

  brave youth, here’s to our meeting in the earth’s embrace!

  So long as you live, breathe, and tread this earth, defend

  with bravery that one pass entrusted you by fate!” 1285

  He spoke, then seized firm Rocky’s shoulders in both hands,

  and the great king accompanied them to the town’s edge

  and held in silence Granite’s hand tight in his own.

  But when he roamed his flaming streets alone at noon,

  tagged by his twelve tall Negro guards with swords in hand 1290

  who dogged his every step and rolled their yellow eyes,

  he quaked, and his heart quailed a moment, but at once

  he paled with shame and felt the archer grip his arm

  until all life hung like a bow and dangled down his
back.

  Once more the troop trudged down the road to start the trek 1295

  in lands without man’s trace, or water, or bird’s wing;

  green serpents once more reared their heads and puffed their necks

  and hissed with frenzied rage as the white travelers passed.

  Nine days and nights went slowly by till their striped souls

  became tree-snakes that coiled and lunged at every prey, 1300

  and then the archer beat hard on his brother-stones

  and hailed the jagged mountain peaks that touched the sky:

  “Well met, O native land, hard shell of my tough mind;

  for years my heavy heart, long exiled in green lands,

  has yearned to lay its eggs in your stone eagle-nests.” 1305

  One day as he tagged behind, and longed with ruthless pride

  to sharpen his dull troop for years on stones like these,

  he suddenly heard advancing Granite shout with joy:

  “The sea!” and the sharp man was startled, for it seemed

  as though the sun-dried mountains round him laughed like shores, 1310

  and he stood trembling on his toes with neck outstretched.

  As he stood listening, he heard thundering waters crash,

  and huge waves beat against his temples, row on row.

  The sharp sea-battler moaned, clambered up rough-strewn rocks,

  and suddenly through bare boulders on a plunging cliff 1315

  —the suffering man’s brains foamed and roared like a cascade—

  an endless blue-green shore lay stretched below his feet.

  Broad-bottom hugged his comrades as his tears gushed out

  and tumbled down his cheeks and his disheveled beard:

  “Fellows, by God, I think we’ve reached the world’s far end! 1320

  The earth ends here, there is no more! Here on the edge

  of the cliff’s rim we’ll build our freedom’s city now!”

  But the much-suffering man cried out with shaking voice:

  “Brothers, draw in the reins of your unbridled hearts,

  I fear your minds make flesh of air, your eyes run wild. 1325

  Don’t turn your joy loose yet, let’s first descend and dip

  our undeceiving hands in that alluring sea

  before we let our hearts laugh shamelessly with joy.”

  He spoke, and his mind’s blade pierced through each hoping heart;

  then all dashed silently down the slope on feet of air 1330

  but kept their eyes fixed on the sea to hold it tight.

  Behold, as the day mounted, fields grew dark and fogged,

  the mountains disappeared like clouds and the sea vanished.