They held their glowing torches high, their laughter rang,
and their nude bodies glistened in the humid cave.
But a young couple suddenly stopped and clutched each other,
for in a shallow water-pit two skeletons gleamed,
a man’s and woman’s bones entwined and nestling there. 725
A long, long time ago a young man chased his girl
deep in this cave till they got lost in the dark maze
and wandered shouting day and night as all hope died;
then the young girl embraced the young man shamelessly
and both fell in a shuddering blaze of love to Hades. 730
Now their white skeletons were twined in tight embrace
and sweetly shone within the eyes of each young pair.
The lone man turned and fixed two torches in the ground;
how beautiful, dear God, the new-washed bodies shone—
the young men gleamed like swords, the girls like empty sheaths. 735
His shadow in the torch-glare danced like a huge lion:
“Perk up your ears, my lads, I bring you sweetest news:
I’ve seen God walk the earth in many different shapes,
I’ve fondled him as infant, pitied him as crone,
but never does my heart rejoice so much as when 740
he walks earth dressed as a young man or a young girl.
I watch him as he twirls his thin mustache with pride
and glances sideways at the girls and sweetly moans.
The maids crouch near their mothers but hear sounds in air:
‘Come, let me clasp you tight that you may never die! 745
Come, leave your mother and become a mother too!’
And then again I watch him as a downy girl
who walks earth boldly as her strong and supple thighs
stride through the grass like slender hounds that stalk their prey.
She passes by with fragrant breasts and gleaming hair 750
till every youth thinks she has beckoned him, and sighs:
‘Ah, could I plant my son there, God, and never die!’
Open your earthen eyelids, lads, come close and see:
each youth holds one of God’s two wings in his dark loins
and each girl holds the other wing deep in her womb; 755
now in the cave’s dark heart, in an erotic siege,
join God’s two wings, O youth, and set him free to soar
like every daring son or fledgling bird that sings.”
He spoke, and all uncoupled wings pulsed in the dark;
the young men shyly glanced at girls and made their choice 760
of lover, pale and silent, till their two stars met.
But in their midst the traveler stood with throat erect
as though he listened to bees swarming in spring air,
as though on distant azure waves he still could hear
the forty-two winged oars which had set out one day, 765
when he was still a beardless youth, and fetched his bride.
He stooped, then walked out, sighing, from the cave of youth.
The three love nights passed swiftly like lean lightning bolts,
and God, that crimson wild dove with the flaming eyes,
flew in the cave three days and nights with double wings; 770
but on the fourth dawn brides and bridegrooms slowly rose,
serene and sated, and with rapturous joy marched out
to finish with joint labor now their children’s home.
They built and sang like birds, they shaped a high peaked roof
and raised red swaddling clothes in air for a bold banner. 775
Then birds came, too, and built their nests, and small eggs gleamed;
the cool days passed, the ripe eggs hatched, and summer came
with her warm slender feet, her long and curly locks;
snakes coiled, uncoiled in rows, the Rutting God appeared,
males honed their claws, musk spilled its fragrance everywhere, 780
and in a quivering silence females stood and waited.
Though black night smothered down, the earth still steamed with heat,
and when the archer tightly clasped his leopard cub,
the haughty virgin growled, switched earth with her long tail,
and as she opened her red jaws and flashed her teeth 785
her older brother fondled her and begged her warmly:
“Dearly beloved, never before has my heart merged
so tightly with a living form as now with yours;
but I see that your womb sighs, and that you long to go.”
Thus did he speak and stroke the cub to heal her ache, 790
but with erotic pain she sniffed the dry red hills,
for all the russet soil reeked of a leopard’s musk;
at times she turned back to her master with a fierce glare,
at times she arched her back until her wild fur sparked.
The churlish man’s heart sweetened as he felt her pain: 795
“What shame to squander all your fate for my sake, virgin!
God in a leopard’s form now growls and stalks the woods;
merge with him now, be filled with seed, increase your kind,
for leopards, too, are bright adornments here on earth.”
He spoke, then set his loved cub loose within the rutting wood. 800
A peasant with his huge feet steeped in heavy mud,
day woke each dawn and went to work on the great town
as step by step it rose tall-columned in the light.
As ramparts rose with laws like high ferocious towers,
God talked and gave his orders to the leader’s mind, 805
and he strove slowly to distill the hid commands
deep in the black pit of his heart and make them song.
One day God sprang on earth with iron weapons armed
and struck Odysseus with his foot till he sprang up
range marshaled his loose wits, as cries of love and war 810
the out and ruthless great commandments throbbed in light:
“I am your own dread God, your Chief of Staff in War!
You’re not my slave, you’re now no plaything in my hands,
nor yet a trusted friend, nor yet a favorite son,
but comrade and co-worker in the stubborn strife! 815
Manfully hold the pass entrusted you in war;
learn to obey—only that soul may be called free
who follows and takes joy in goals greater than he.
Learn to command, only that soul on earth who knows
how to give harsh commands can be my mouth or fist. 820
What is my road? A rough, rude, limitless ascent!
To say: No one but I can save the whole wide world!
Where are we going? Shall we win? Don’t ask! Fight on!”
Thus did dread God command within the lone man’s breast,
and the lawmaker’s mind grew light, the air grew mute, 825
and he sped swiftly toward his city with great joy
to find smooth slabs of upright stones on which to carve
the great and difficult laws entrusted him by God.
As he walked on and thought how he might raise a troop
to aid that God who always mounted earth with groans, 830
he saw beside the town’s south gate a monstrous stream
of blind black ants that swarmed with a devouring greed.
A baby camel had been caught in that fierce charge
and only its white bones now gleamed on the black ground;
the frightened people stopped their work and fled like leaves 835
but in the rush a baby fell from its mother’s arms,
laughingly sank within that dread cascade of ants
and in a flash only its bare thin bones remained.
The largest of the black ants, with thick solid jaws,
scurr
ied like leaders up and down the frenzied troops, 840
bit, barked commands, and brought the stream to ordered flow.
The suffering man stooped low and watched the mystic powers,
greedy and blind, that welled from the ground’s guts, and knew
that earth’s crust at his feet was but a thin trap door.
When the dark plunderers suddenly swerved and disappeared, 845
the people turned to building with unruffled song,
and Death’s grim raid became the cause of laughs and jokes.
Memory soon forgot all it had seen and feared
and covered horror with a colored cloak, as always;
when pots were set above the hearths that very night, 850
then Death, the Ant, became the fancy’s glittering toy.
But the compassionate man’s frenetic heart was wrung,
his black-robed memory stooped and loosed her matted hair,
held up the stream of ants for mirror, wept and wailed.
Silent, and sickened with all food, Odysseus lay 855
in the wild moonlight by the lake and called on sleep
till that old sunless codger came with all his brood.
The lone man dreamt that on his body blind ants swarmed
and ate him to the bone, that his flesh knit once more,
but that the ants swarmed once again and ate him whole. 860
All night his quivering flesh would fade and knit in waves
until in the dawn’s light he felt these were not ants
but the dark stars that crawled above him silently and ate him.
One night God leapt full-armored in the archer’s brain,
and as he felt the dread command, he jumped from sleep, 865
blew on his conch and marshaled all his troop with haste:
“Let all work stop this day! Let a great feast be spread!
Flowers have wilted and fruit knit, let all our bodies
that also have borne fruit, play for a moment now;
I here pronounce a mystic feast of fruits in summer.” 870
Fathers and mothers dropped their working tools at once,
plunged in the lake to bathe, and then with heavy paints
of blue and red adorned their bosoms and firm limbs;
all that the soul longed for in secret they drew now
on their strong bodies: women, gallant deeds, and dance. 875
As mute Odysseus crouched in dark and watched them cross
his God’s cool threshold, he rejoiced to see the cave
become a session of bright stars, a croft of flames.
He locked his lips, his people held their breath in fear,
and from the bowels of the earth a heavy roar 880
thundered as though a monstrous black bull bellowed there,
then the ground shook with earthquake, and once more stood still.
For fear that man might lose what little strength he had,
the archer shunted off his hovering savage thoughts:
“Brothers, strike up the dance and give your minds a spin 885
till in your breasts God’s fountains leap like five deep springs,
and then, my lads, I’ll speak and tell you a great secret!”
All whirled on the dark cliffs of dance, and their brains spun,
bodies forgot their destinies and flew like birds,
a light intoxication zoned their brows like wings, 890
and when Odysseus felt they had all reached their peak,
he raised his hands, stopped the mad dance and spoke with care:
“I’ll tell you a great secret, don’t be heavy-hearted!”
But then a curly-bearded stalwart raised his hand:
“In the swift giddiness of dance, hearts fear no death! 895
Cast us your words! We’ll wear them on our ears like roses.”
The lone man arched his brows in scorn of such bold praise,
turned to his troop and darkly cast his heavy words:
“Brothers, God trembles in our breasts and cries for help!”
The startled stalwarts took alarm and grasped their swords, 900
all mothers were struck dumb and tightly clutched their sons,
a youth, but newly wed, embraced his trembling bride
for fear the son he’d planted in her womb might die.
But Granite’s scornful lips broke in a mocking smile;
he also longed for such an anguished God on earth 905
who rushed with his brave men to battle, nor from pride
even thought of victory as his just and true reward:
“I’ll die a thousand deaths, but let me fall from high!”
Upright, the archer shot his shafts in the cool cave:
“He’s not Almighty, brothers! Blood pours from his veins, 910
he stumbles on the earth with Death close at his heels!”
Painfully wounded, his friends groaned to hear him speak,
a newly wed young maiden clasped her child and said:
“I don’t want such a God who can’t even save my child!”
But the archer’s lightning-shivered mind struck in reply: 915
“My god is made of fire, water, soul, and sweat!
He’s not a vast immortal thought, or bird of air;
he’s only mortal flesh, like us, a flickering brain,
a restless stubborn heart that trembles like man’s own
nor knows from where he started nor toward what he goes. 920
Whoever of you can bear him, comrades, let him stay,
but he who seeks a deathless and compassionate god,
let him leave now at once with all his goods and kin,
and let the last cruel sifting start this holy day!”
He spoke, and sulphur spilled in the resounding air; 925
all lost their joy, and blond, black generations swarmed
about his heavy words and buzzed all day like bees
who feel a bear’s paw treading on their fruitful hive.
Broad-bottom wandered through the town as though new eyes
and ears had sprouted in his boar-hide’s roaring head, 930
as though the taste of water had changed, as though bread rose
like martial ramparts where God crouched in quaking fear
and strongly fortified himself to war with Death.
“Oho, his hand is heavy, for good or evil both.
You thirst, and crash! he falls on you like a cascade; 935
you hunger for a slice of easy-come-by bread
and he sends ovens-full for you to turn to spirit;
you hold within you a small spark of soul, but he
blows till you burst in conflagration and turn to ash!
Our bodies are the threshing floors where God fights Death, 940
and ah, joy flies away, sweet sleep no longer stays,
for deep within our guts we hear his soul at strife.”
That night toward sunset Kentaur spoke to his cruel master:
“A life like that is so inhuman, it’ll knock me down!
As I roamed restlessly today with savage heart, 945
I fondled trees and oxen, the small girls and boys,
and tears rose and hung heavily on my lashes’ rim,
for we all flow like rivers lost in a vast sea!”
But the all-knowing man caressed his comrade’s back:
“Don’t rush yourself, O glutton, and your sides will knit, 950
the cleavage of your soul will turn to wild war songs;
cling to my weighty words and they will turn to wing.”
But Granite laughed until his eagle-glances flashed:
“Such is the god I’ve longed for, such a Chief of War!
Only thus may the soul fight proudly on this earth 955
for it knows well that its great strife may be in vain.
As I came by now, God rushed past on his black steed;
oho, he looked like Rocky with
his wedge-shaped beard,
his haughty and sharp stature, the glance of his fierce eyes!
‘Aye, friend, rein in your black steed now, let’s talk a while,’ 960
and he reined in his frothing steed, reached out his arm,
so that for hours we rode in silence, hand in hand,
and all at once earth seemed an endless upward road
and all life seemed like two warm hands that tightly twined as one.”
Thus by the fire the three companions shaped their god. 965
Meanwhile earth ripened ceaselessly, the grass turned sere,
winds blew and cast the shriveled leaves in swirling heaps,
fruit rotted on the trees and flung its fertile seed
till autumn like a wounded lion stretched on earth.
Since daybreak, in the hallway of an old man’s house, 970
an ancient chief lay dying with grandsons and great-grandsons,
the archer’s faithful friend, who one night by the fire,
when all the comrades held high talk of God and Fate,
had suddenly raised his savage head and heavy voice:
“I’ve always heard one cry, more than enough for me: 975
‘Follow with stubborn faith a soul greater than you!’”
Now like a lion the ancient warrior stretched to die;
in vain his sons at midnight spread his clothes and weapons
to the high stars to exorcise all evil spells,
in vain the sorcerers from his lips and nostrils hung 980
long sharp-toothed hooks to catch the soul and hold it firm,
for the old battler laughed and swept the charms away:
“My soul needs now no magic spells or charms, my sons,
I’m glutted with the whole world’s joys and seek to leave;
bring me my armor, bring my gold, my gems, my robes, 985
bring me thick crimson paints that I may dress for Death,
then set me down on the good earth for a good start.”
At the old man’s commands, his grandsons laid him down,
and then he sat up straight and seized his brazen shield,
laid it across his knees, gazed on his pallid face 990
then dyed and swelled his ancient scars with carmine paint,
adorned his head with plumes, and then with swaggering pride
tied round his neck a necklace of his foes’ dog teeth.
When the great rite had ended, he stretched out his hands
in silence, and all kissed them, each in proper rank, 995.
his sons, brides, sons-in-law, his grandsons and great-grandsons.
When night had fallen and the last great-grandson passed,
The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel Page 79
