January’s poem
For the new year, the beginning of the Odyssey:
Muse, tell me how he wandered and was lost
when he had wrecked the holy town of Troy,
and where he went, and who he met, the pain
he suffered in the storms at sea, and how
he worked to save his life and bring his men
back home. He failed to keep them safe; poor fools,
they ate the Sun God’s cattle, and the god
kept them from home. Now, goddess, child of Zeus,
tell the story for our modern times.
Find the beginning.
Newly translated by Emily Wilson. “Tell me about a complicated man.”
⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
Tell me about a complicated man.Muse, tell me how he wandered and was lost
when he had wrecked the holy town of Troy,
and where he went, and who he met, the pain
he suffered in the storms at sea, and how
he worked to save his life and bring his men
back home. He failed to keep them safe; poor fools,
they ate the Sun God’s cattle, and the god
kept them from home. Now, goddess, child of Zeus,
tell the story for our modern times.
Find the beginning.
⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
Newly translated by Emily Wilson. “Tell me about a complicated man.”