had caught this mullet’s entrails and could not be snapped;
with joy he crossed the door and soon was swallowed up in darkness. 820
After three days, he sought to hunt some other soul,
and found broad-buttocked Kentaur rolling in the street.
Returning from the beach at break of day, he saw
sprawled in the middle of the road a monstrous beast
whose hairy chest dripped with a mess of wine and food, 825
whose belly in the dawn’s light shone like a holm oak.
When glutton saw his master mounting up the slope,
he did not rise, but rolled aside to clear the road,
and then Odysseus kicked the drunken pig with scorn:
“I like this mountain of fat meat your soul lugs round 830
like a gold scarab rolling its black ball of dung!
What shame to eat and drink but be unsaved and useless!
Both bread and wine are good, abundant meat is good,
when in your guts they turn not into dung, but spirit.”
Broad-buttocks thundered like a cave till the streets shook: 835
“They’ve named me Kentaur well, for in my greasy loins
I feel two monstrous rivers clash, then swirl and roar;
the one’s called God, the other Beast, and I dead center.”
The unsated fisher laughed, then threw his sharp harpoon:
“Follow me then, broad beast, come board my feathery craft for ballast!” 840
Somewhere it flashed and thundered, somewhere the hail fell!
No lightning flashed, no thunder roared, no hard hail fell,
but in a distant, cave four dragons ate and drank!
Bakers brought loaves of wheat bread, slaves brought skins of wine,
shepherds at dawn brought fat lambs slung acrop their backs 845
and still the dragons feasted till frontiers of heaven
and earth swayed wildly and all life like sea-flies’ swooped
amid their wine-drenched beards and salty long mustaches.
The more they drank the more they splashed in seas that part
men from their wives, till from great longing their eyes glazed 850
as distant countries rose on waves to lure them on.
How many vessels sail the seas, how many arrows,
how much rich merchandise lies in the hold supine—
souls, bodies, wines—and the swift wind commands the helm!
Laughter and shouting, sailors munch, and shores appear: 855
“A thousand welcome, lads, with your good merchandise!”
The harbors smell of pitch, the hoarse-voiced port-girls laugh,
night sprawls with open thighs, and the lighthouses blaze.
“That’s not a crimson apple, boys, it’s a bright castle!”
Bound and unmoving on the beach, with drunken ears 860
brimming with sound, eyes filled with tears, the dragon pairs
went wandering off in fantasy to foreign shores
and groaned against each other like four dreaming triremes.
One day a flying fish leapt to a man’s height,
and Kentaur, jealous of the fish’s yearning, sighed: 865
“Master, I’ve but one word to say, don’t get me wrong:
Ahoy! It’s time our hearts leapt high like flying fish!
I still recall those words you cast in the street once:
‘Both food and wine are good if they’re transformed to travel!’ ”
Then the much-traveled man laughed long and teased his friend: 870
“How would your dull brain know I’m in full sail already?
Deep in the hold you lie like ballast, a dog on dung;
wine spins your head until you only dream of land!”
Then Captain Clam grabbed at his seaweed beard and said:
“Aye, by the sea! we’ve set full sail in our minds only; 875
I say it’s time we built our ship’s keel high on rocks
for I’m the kind who likes to grasp his dream like flesh.”
In Hardihood’s beclouded eyes mute fires burned,
the beach became a bronzesmith’s shop, and the rocks sparked.
Cunning Odysseus raised his heavy hands on high: 880
“Free souls, agreed! I’ve waited only for you to speak.
Let’s sacrifice a three-combed cock to bless our keel,
then drench our trees with wine before we cut them down
that the wood-demons with branch beards may harm us not.
Up, lads, the mind of seven-souled mankind will help us!” 885
At the new moon, all four began to build their keel;
they cut down pine and oak, then matched and trimmed the planks
and on the beach lit blazing bonfires row on row,
They worked with all their strength, but when the sun would set
they’d fall on food and drink and thus carouse all night. 890
The piper watched, on tenterhooks, a short ways off;
his heart would yell “Ahoy!” his mind mind, “Draw back!”
till he could bear the smell of spitted meat no longer.
The hungry beggar opened his lean shanks and perched
on a high rock like a reed-slender stork, then stooped 895
to spy with his cross-eyes on the carousers’ cave,
but when Odysseus saw him with swift eyes, he yelled;
“Hey, welcome to the mermaid-taken fool, the screw-loose!
All hail to the fool’s cap of God with dirty tassel!”
But still the bony body quaked and feared to approach: 900
“Master, I’m scared, and bring to mind the fox’s story:
many the beasts he saw go in the lion’s den alive . . .”
But all at once his speech stopped short, his cross-eyes saw
on sand the glutton’s naked bellies three floors high.
Stretching his bony hands, the coward steeled his heart, 905
leapt down amid the savage pack and stuttered out:
“Hullo, you forty-footer! My poor heart’s grown lean
to watch the turning spit night after day from far!
I’ve come now with my songs to give it an extra twirl!”
Odysseus lightly laughed, fearing to scare the fool: 910
“They say that when the cricket’s gone, the grapes won’t ripen,
and that the roast without a song will lose its flavor;
sit down to eat and drink, cross-eyes, give your heart strength.”
He ate and drank to bursting, till his veins swelled up
and his dream-taken brainpan spilled with whistling winds 915
so that he seized his flute and struck a lively tune.
And thus with banqueting and work, with planks and dream,
the ship’s hull slowly rose upon the finished frame,
and many-willed Odysseus marveled at man’s strength:
man sighs on earth while his desires fly above him 920
like nymphs with kerchiefs woven of the finest air,
and when he grabs one, she turns flesh, follows him home,
his wife and sweet companion, mother of many children;
sighs turn to splendid sons, and drunkenness to ears of corn.
At length the burning summer passed, the leaves caught fire, 925
the last grape-clusters in the vineyards hung and swayed,
night-birds cried out for dryness, cuckoo-birds for rain,
cranes flapped their slender wings and danced upon the wind,
and all migrating birds assembled in the trees,
fluttering and balancing their wings, swelling their throats, 930
and felt the sky to be an endless road, and trembled.
Down in the cave at dusk the master’s voice rang out:
“We have worked well again today, my friends, and now
it’s time to quit, for we are free to play awhile;
k
isses and wine belong by right to the hard worker.” 935
They all lay down to supper, and the piper played
softly until the minds of his companions swayed?
with dizzy catches, songs resung, and short sweet tunes.
One day, as she scooped sea salt out of coastal pits,
a young girl had strayed far from her stern mother’s eyes, 940
and Kentaur saw her, grabbed her like a frightened doe
and gave her, singing, to his comrades’ hairy arms:
“Give me, dear God, but brains enough to eat and drink,
to spend my whole life nibbling at all lovely maids!”
The girl cried out demurely, but in time got used 945
to their wine-smelling breaths and skilled, caressing hands.
Time and again at midnight they would disappear,
don bullhides, paint themselves like gods, then hug the walls
and poke themselves into the homes of mortal men.
They’d find the lonely widows, girls in their first sleep, 950
lower their voices, flap their wings and spread their pelts,
pretending to be gods who deigned descend to earth
and plant immortal children deep in thankful mortal wombs.
Thus did the days roll by in work, the nights in play.
A rumor spread from town to town that demons lashed 955
their king who all night long danced naked in the moon,
assumed a thousand dragon shapes, turned to a ghoul
and ravaged lambs, or fell on babes and ate them whole,
or laughed with sirens by the shore, changed to a sprite.
“Witches with your strong brews, your spells, your charms, your arts, 960
come heal our pain, enchant that choking dog, alas,
that leaps on all our flocks! Bind him with cricks and cramps!”
Thus did the shepherds cry, and brought the witches herbs,
thus did the landlords cry, and brought the witches bread,
thus did the women cry and beat their plundered breasts. 965
And then one crystal moonlit night the witches left,
taking their charms and sorceries and their salty buns,
taking a small dwarf made of wood, dipped in strong spells,
dressed in full royal garb, with peaked sea-demon’s cap
and a sharp, thickset, poisonous knife thrust in his heart. 970
Grasping their charms, they wakened gnomes and star-struck ghosts,
lamias and leprous Nereids from the frothy waves,
till triple-eyed and one-eyed dragons trod the sands
and the whole seashore roared with drums and spooky laughter.
Naked, with streaming hair, the witches danced and poked 975
small nails into the dwarf and mumbled magic spells:
“As sways the sea so may your guts sway night and day,
as throb the hearts of frightened birds, so throb your heart;
feel in your flesh these nails we thrust in this wood now!”
They groaned, then threw the dwarf far out at sea, and stoned it. 980
Next day when the drunk dragons saw the bobbing dwarf
sail on its back on foaming waves, its hands crisscrossed,
the piper swam out, grabbed it, brought it to his master
who read the magic signs at once and burst in laughter:
“It seems this sea-dwarf looks a bit like me, my lads, 985
but I’m no easy prey for spells, I come of dragon root,
and I shall sprout a wing for every hammered nail!”
He spoke, then threw it in the embers for a bit of kindling.
One day a slender stranger passed as they sat eating,
and his proud eagle glance was glazed with savage grief. 990
He stopped as though, if they should give him wine and meat,
he might consent to join them, like a gracious king.
Odysseus joyed to feel the man’s nobility:
“Sit down, and welcome, stranger, drink some wine with us.
If, as they say, the soul shows through the flesh’s garb, 995
I see a great and saddened eagle perched on crags.”
The regal-looking man with his clean glance replied:
“I know that the great mouth of the world-wanderer speaks
and what a shame it is to hide before his gaze.
They call me Granite, and I come from a great mountain. 1000
A mighty lord’s white tower shines between two peaks
and there the ancient chief gave up his soul on earth
and left behind two sons and a young, lovely maid.
The brains of the youths blazed, their eyes were whipped with blood,
both burned for the maid’s body and grew pale as almonds. 1005
They met on a high threshing floor, unsheathed their knives,
and in the center placed the maid dressed like a bride.
The bearded son there killed the fledgling, and the bride
flung herself on the slayer’s knees and cried with joy:
It’s you I’ve always longed for, take me in my first flower!’ 1010
But he, instead of looting her cool flesh and lips,
strode past the bloody threshing floor, rushed to the shore,
and in the sea washed and rewashed and scrubbed the blood
until the whole shore reddened; then he sailed away,
and now see where he lies before your feet, Odysseus.” 1015
The suffering man flung out his hands to the four winds:
“A woman’s body is a dark and monstrous mystery;
between her supple thighs a heavy whirlpool swirls,
two rivers crash, and woe to him who slips and falls!”
He spoke, then filled the tall newcomer’s cup with wine: 1020
“A thousand welcomes, Granite, a thousand and two thousand!”
As the new friend threw back his throat to quench his thirst
he saw the sun sail in his goblet like a ship,
he saw long voyages and rivers, cares and castles,
he even saw brave Granite sailing in the purple wine. 1025
Thus hands were multiplied until the tall ship swayed
as though it were the South Wind’s sandal flung on sand,
until the proud stern crowed, the prow raised its head high
and all the master-dragons measured and built with speed.
Rains pelted down, clouds laughed in the clear sky once more, 1030
the winter’s sun shone gently on a sleeping world,
old crones bent down from hadge to hedge to gather snails,
girls picked the best remaining olives from the trees,
and still the dragons worked with hammer, wood, and brain.
Alas, how swift time flies, how quickly earth’s wheel turns. 1035
when hands and brain set out to build a mighty work!
The whole world drowned, the cuckoo chirped in olive trees,
black earth once more turned green, the ilex sprouts turned red,
and swallows soon returned in South Wind’s warming hands.
On distant foreign shores, abandoned mothers heard 1040
that their seducer walked his native land once more
and brought great wealth to raise whole flocks of sons and daughters.
From all sides, sailing in swift ships, his bastards came:
all those he’d sown full measure on his fruitful trips,
for always in his tent at night, stretched out on pelts, 1045
he liked to sport with women when he came from battle;
or when he anchored as a merchant on strange shores
he liked to spread on sand seductive merchandise
and watch the savage maids run down from mountain slopes
with hides of wild beasts, wares of brass, and brawny ox, 1050
and come down trembling to the sands to give and take.
The crafty
man would choose the loveliest girl and meet
amid the osiers, in cool caves, or the ship’s deep hold.
What joy to hear a girl cry out in the dark night
like a rich plundered town when it unbolts its gates 1055
till in the hush its windows, doors and streets resound.
Now like a lord’s rich harvest, he received his bastards:
the down had spread already on the young men’s cheeks,
the girls’ small breasts had grown to be as hard as walnuts.
Sometimes their eyes, like emeralds, flashed with greenest light, 1060
blue like the sea sometimes, or pitch-black like his own,
and in their eyes and features, tender tone of voice,
the woman-chaser struggled to recall each mother.
He welcomed all, shared out his sons throughout his land
and made them foremen, plowmen, shepherds, fishermen, 1065
and placed his daughters with his cellar’s busy looms.
As they were shared and scattered, their sly father smiled:
“If they’re not pleased with their day’s wages, let them sail,
and let them, like their father, take the road of exile;
if they adapt themselves, then may their toil be blessed, 1070
and may they plant strong sons to cast deep roots in earth.”
One evening on the beach when the friends stopped their work
and turned the spit or dragged the wineskins from the shade,
a blond-haired girl came slowly and stood before their cave.
The archer turned, then paled to see her sapphire eyes, 1075
and knew at once Calypso’s godly form and sea-blue gaze.
Starded, he stroked her soft wheat-golden locks, and spoke:
“From what high, holy summit have you come, my child?”
She looked serenely in her father’s eyes, and said:
“If you are truly the much-wandering, racked Odysseus, 1080
I kiss, my father, your renowned and sated knees;
a blond-haired goddess gave me birth in a deep cave.”
His flaming hands reached out and seized the firm-shaped girl,
devoured with greed, caressed with love her tender flesh,
and like a heavy beast that licks its cub, he lowed, 1085
till tickled by his thorny beard, the maiden laughed.
He ached, and laid his much-loved booty on the sand,
but hid his features in his hands and softly wept.
O azure shores, gorged honeycombs, thick cloying hours,
crystal unsleeping bosom with your double guardians, 1090
stars that rolled down and twined themselves in golden locks,
The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel Page 14
