Page:Thirty poems (IA thirtypoems00bryarich).pdf/157

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FIFTH BOOK OF HOMER'S ODYSSEY.
151
 "Oh, father Jove, and all ye blessed onesWho live forever! let not sceptred kingHenceforth, be gracious, mild, and merciful,And righteous; rather be he deaf to prayer,And prone to deeds of wrong, since no one nowRemembers the divine Ulysses moreAmong the people over whom he ruled,Benignly, like a father. Still he lies,Weighed down by many sorrows, in the isleAnd dwelling of Calypso, who so longConstrains his stay. To his dear native landDepart he cannot; ship, arrayed with oars,And seamen has he none, to bear him o'erThe breast of the broad ocean. Nay, even now,Against his well-beloved son a plotIs laid, to slay him as he journeys homeFrom Pylos the divine, and from the wallsOf famous Sparta, whither he had goneTo gather tidings of his father's fate." Then answered her the ruler of the storms:"My child, what words are these that pass thy lips!
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