"Eurylochus recalls the Sirens".(Poem)

 
"Eurylochus recalls the Sirens" 
 
   When we returned from Hell, that sorceress 
   Who so loved our captain she set him free, 
   Feasted us with meat and bread and wine, 
   Praising us for our great-heartedness: 
   "In going down alive to the House of Hades, 
   You will have died twice instead of once-Which 
   is enough for any man to bear." 
   Sunset. And we sailors all lay down 
   To sleep by the stern cables of our ship. 
   But shapely Circe kept Odysseus up 
   Making love to him for the last time, again 
   And again, an infinity of kisses, and then 
   Warned him of the dangers that lay ahead. 
 
   Of Scylla and Charybdis I shall not speak, 
   For there are horrors memory consumes 
   With the men who are consumed by them. 
   Six comrades of my youth were plucked aloft 
   By that she-monster with six grinding mouths. 
   No mercy there, except their death was quick. 
 
   The Sirens cut the wound that would not heal. 
   Circe warned us of these cruel daughters 
   Of a sea-god, with the heads of lovely women, 
   And wings and feet of birds. They dwell 
   On an island near the whirlpool of Charybdis 
   Where they loll in a flowering meadow, waiting 
   For ships to pass. They know when to spring 
   For Zeus has given them knowledge of everything. 
 
   Circe warned us not to sheer too close 
   To these harpies, or eavesdrop on their singing. 
   Wives and children will not welcome home 
   Men who've heard those voices clear and true. 
   Sirens perch on masts like cypress boughs 
   Of their island home where dead men's bones 
   Lie scattered, with flesh still clinging to them. 
   Circe bid us fill our ears with beeswax 
   To deafen us--all but Odysseus. 
   Why did she make exception for the man 
   She loved, why did she think he might 
   Listen harmlessly to what would kill us? 
   "Lash him to the crosspiece on the mast. 
   And when he begs and prays that you release him, 
   Tie him all the tighter the more he pleads." 
 
   The sorceress conjured up a favoring breeze 
   That swept us toward Sorrento and our fate. 
   Suddenly the bowl of the sea grew calm 
   As if it were a pond on a summer day, 
   And not a breath of wind to strum the water. 
   So we stowed the sails and set to rowing 
   While our captain carved a wheel of wax 
   Into wedges with his ...