Reading Homer
I dreamed of Ithaca I think
and knew it not
after much swimming in circles
round a famed-for-wonders city without gates
through rising speeding water full of
small and slimy things
terribly dangerous
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on the seventh round
I saw perilous alps and caves of startling blue
where couchant lay a giant snow-white goat
on slopes too steep for horses
serenely licking ice
as my father’s wildebeest
once licked salt
its face was human
and his place was home
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I could not go to him
swam on dream-driven
then woke
and dared to name
where I had not quite been
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Simply superb. The poem proves that for the true poet there are no barriers of time and space. Sitting in the UK at present it is possible for the poet to reach the days of Homer or his world and be a part of it.
Hi Lakshmi
how lovely of you tocomment on the poem. It was all brought on by preparing for a conference on poetry and translation, in which I want to look at various writers on Ithaca – Homer, Cavafy, Durrell. have also been reading fascinating books about the whereabuts of Ithaca – Geologically speaking, that is, as well as literary and narratively. All wonderful stuff.
God, I love this poem… dared to name where I had not quite been… stunning