4
Now Athena, back again
On the mountain the Gods call home
Found swift Hermes by her side
And the winged messenger said:
"Does your justice satisfy you wise one?
You have ordered things well
For that mortal you hold dear
And the few unhappy gods
Would not dare to speak against you.
The Earthshaker will hold a grudge
Against Odysseus for all eternity,
The lovely Kirke and Kalypso too,
Mourn the loss of their lover."
The grey eyes of Zeus' daughter grew cold at these words.
"Do not speak to me of Kalyspo,
Shallow and hurtful her affection was
For the mortal man, the victim, she called lover.
Good Kirke aided Odysseus in his ventures
When he deemed it time to depart from her."
Wise Athena
Saw that it was good for her to tell
The Messenger of her discourse with Kirke and Kalypso.
"After leaving dear Odysseus upon his cherished homeland
I had to know why the lovely Kirke acted as she did.
I stood upon her island shores, by her grieving side and watched
Young Dawn with her fingertips of rose
Stretch into the serious morning.
The charming Kirke answered my unspoken question:
'Hermes told me long ago
That I would love a mortal man
He would outwit my cunning tricks
And be glorious like immortal Gods.
Hermes said that he would leave
Me for a mortal wife at home
That I would not compare to her
In saddened his hero's gaze.
I could not stand such keening pain
As Odysseus wrought upon my heart
Although I had him in my bed
His mind and heart were far from me.
When I gazed at him his eyes were dark
Like the distant gleaming shores of home
Shrouded in early morning mist
As the sea runs racing over stones
Along the almost hidden pathways
Of that longed for land.'
Next I saw Kaylpso at her solitary home.
She was not as gracious as the other moral lover
She said to me upon my entrance:
'Dangerous daughter of Zeus you come to scold me too?
You might know what it is to love
We are immortal, unchanging, forever
They are fleeting and I envy them.
When he gazed out toward home
Regardless of my attention toward him
My immortal heart ached
Like the torn flesh of the companions
Devoured by Poseidon's one-eyed son
Ripped like the delicate man flesh
Of a man become a meal.
Hermes told me to let him go.
It was Zeus's will and yours I know.
Why do you take such interest in a mortal man?
You are the eternal virgin, you cannot have him
In the way I had him for seven years.'
Kalypso is an angry soul,
It will take years for her anger to simmer
She believes a great injustice has been done to her.
I could not leave brave Odysseus to
Their possessive hands. You must realize Hermes."
Hermes thought to turn to the wise goddess.
To ask her how close Kaylpso's insult had gone.
But when he looked the goddess was gone
He was again alone on the mountain
Zeus's dangerous daughter would no more justify
Herself to him than any god.