[Paddlewise] Ancient Mariner

I've been reading and enjoying Robert Fitzgerald's translation of the
Odyssey. I think the following excerpt will resonate with anyone who has
looked for a safe landing on a rugged coast. Odysseus has been shipwrecked
and is looking for a way to safely get ashore on the rocky shore of
Skheria Island...

During this meditation a heavy surge
was taking him, in fact, straight on the rocks.
He had been flayed there, and his bones broken,
had not grey-eyed Athena instructed him:
he gripped a rock-ledge with both hands in passing
and held on, groaning, as the surge went by,
to keep clear of its breaking. Then the backwash
hit him, ripping him under and far out.
An octopus, when you drag one from his chamber,
comes up with suckers full of tiny stones:
Odysseus left the skin of his great hands
torn on that rock-ledge as the wave submerged him.
And now at last Odysseus would have perished,
battered inhumanly, but he had the gift
of self-possession from grey-eyed Athena.
So, when the backwash spewed him up again,
he swam out and along, and scanned the coast
for some landspit that made a breakwater.
Lo and behold, the mouth of a calm river
at length came into view, with level shores
unbroken, free from rock, shielded from wind--
by far the best place he had found....

He crawls ashore, finds a dense thicket to sleep under, and

                                 ...Here Odysseus
tunnelled, and raked together with his hands
a wide bed--for a fall of leaves was there,
enough to save two men or maybe three
on a winter night, a night of bitter cold.
Odysseus' heart laughed when he saw his leaf-bed,
and down he lay, heaping more leaves above him.

So, he had land survival skills, too. Next time you are sipping wine by
your campfire, spill a little for Athena and for Poseidon, too!

Chuck Holst
***************************************************************************
PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed
here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire
responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author.
Submissions:     PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net
Subscriptions:   PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net
Website:         http://www.paddlewise.net/
***************************************************************************