“Ithaca, at last”

The moive is out but as yet I have not seen it, however I think I will prefer the book!
Homer’s Odyssey, an epic of adventure of the ten years for Odysseus, (Latin Ulysses) to return to Ithaca after the ten year battle of Troy! Early reviews of director Chris Nolan’s movie are full of praise, so it is on my list to view and it has prompted my reread of Homer’s epic poem this past week. It is somewhat ridiculous to attempt to quote a few lines of the 12,000+ lines but as I read of Odysseus eventual return to Ithaca, granted awaking from a sound sleep induced by the goddess Athena, he wakes not knowing where he is as the island is shrouded in mist. A conversation with Athena results in his further disguise and plan to seize back his land and estates. As I read the section below another poem came to mind, the 16 line poem by the Scottish poet Norman MacCaig in which he shows his delight on returning home, to Scotland on the London/Edinburgh train, a journey I will be making in a few weeks time! Please ponder both poems and that deeper search we all have for home. Enjoy the rhyming train sounds in MacCaig’s poem and the delight Odysseus finds in returning home, at last!

                           And then, that hour the star rose up,
the clearest, brightest star, that always heralds
the newborn light of day, the deep-sea-going ship
made landfall on the island… Ithaca, at last.…

And tell me this for a fact -I need to know
where on earth am I? what land? who lives here?
Is it one of the sunny islands or some jutting shore
of the good green mainland slanting down to sea?”

Athena answered, her eyes brightening now,
“You must be a fool, stranger, or come from nowhere
if you really have to ask what land this is.
Trust me, it’s not so nameless after all.
It’s known the world around,
to all who live to the east and rising sun
and to all who face the western mists and darkness
It’s a rugged land, too cramped for driving horses,
but though it’s far from broad, it’s hardly poor.
There’s plenty of grain for bread, grapes for wine,
the rains never fail and the dewfall’s healthy.
Good country for goats, good for cattle too-
there’s stand on stand of timber
and water runs in streambeds through the year.
                                                                                           So,
stranger, the name of Ithaca’s reached as far as Troy,
and Troy, they say,’ is a long hard sail from Greece.”

Ithaca … Heart racing, Odysseus that great exile
filled with joy to hear Athena, daughter of storming Zeus,
pronounce that name. He stood on native ground at last

                                The Odyssey, Homer  700 B.C. (?) (translated by  Robert Fagels)
                                                                                                 Book 13 Ithaca At Last

London to Edinburgh
I’m waiting for the moment
when the train crosses the Border
and home creeps closer
at seventy miles an hour.

I dismiss the last four days
and their friendly strangers
into the past
that grows bigger every minute.

The train sounds urgent as I am,
it says home and home and home.
I light a cigarette
and sit smiling in the corner.

Scotland, I rush towards you
into my future that,
every minute,
grows smaller and smaller.
Norman MacCaig,  Collected Poems pub. 1993

Prayer:
O Holy God, creator
of moon and sun,
of night and day,
of sea and shore,
of wind and wave,
of mountain and meadow,
of rain and sunshine, to You
we sing praise and shout for joy.
O Holy God, we treasure the witness
of scripture and the story of You the Word made flesh.
In the odysessy of our humble lives, we at times
are blown far from your true course. The unrelenting noise
of our world at times drowns out your still small voice.
Come close O Spirit and breathe new life into my bones,
new hope into my heart that “at last” I might delight in this your gift
of life each and every day. Amen.