At odyssey’s end,
what is to be said?
What is to be sung,
when all's said and done?
When great wars fought
have long been won -
in ancient lands lost
awaiting to be found?
Or upon the high seas
that time has forgot?
Where human hearts beat
to the drum of the gods;
playing their game loud,
and in joyful discord?
Or to be told by another
or many more in song?
What is to be said?
What is to be sung -
alone or in chorus
for heroes long dead?
- Anne Dromache January 1st 2021
My reading of Homer’s The Odyssey was never meant to take a whole year! But when I conceived the project at the end of 2019, such a verflixtes year I did not even imagine! In my defence, then – the distractions have been many!
Anyway, it is just in the nick of time, that I have reached an end. (Though a lot of very clever people would insist that a reading of Homer never really ends.) My reflections along the way are collected here. What you don’t see, are the videos of my readings of each book – done to encourage the “reading out aloud” that Emily Wilson suggested. And, conscientiously having done so, I would most definitely agree.
Awaited now, is Wilson’s new translation of the Iliad – for which I think we must be patient.
