The Odyssey; A Modern Sequel by Nikos Kazantzakis

Author:Nikos Kazantzakis [Kazantzakis, Nikos]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: Classics, Poetry, Adventure
ISBN: 9781199779502
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 1938-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Panting, they slowly pushed through a tree-packed ravine

until one morning swirling clouds hung heavily

on windswept peaks and covered the low brooding sky.

Lightning bolts zoned the earth, branches of trees lit up,

the zigzag fire chopped the trees with thundering sound;

beasts ran in terror, all the tumultuous forest howled,

the lion's roar resounded and the jackal's wail,

monkeys shrieked in the swaying boughs and huddled tight,

and the troop crouched in silence in old hollowed trunks.

Then all at once the wind fell and the wild storm raged;

a warm rain filled with fragrance struck and whipped the trees,

parched leaves and thick coarse blossoms gaped and smelled of musk

and all earth opened to gulp water deep in her bowels.

Then broad-rumped Kentaur, dripping like a river-beast,

his armpits hung with tangling vines and crinky moss,

sat stooped upon a moldy trunk and shook his head:

"Oho, my lads, we're all bogged down! What a great shame

to go to Hades now like frogs, mudsoaked and smirched;

how those deadheads will burst with laughter to see our plight!"

But huddled in a tree's old hulk, the lone man felt

an inexpressible joy, breathing the damp and mold

and the strong stench of beasts that in the cloudburst steamed.

He brooded on the lizards, geckoes, newts, and snakes

that, glued to earth, now listened to the world's quick pulse

throbbing with fear like a vast heart deep in the ground.

His mind sank like a nude worm in the great downpour;

but bit by bit the weather cleared, the world grew light,

clouds drifted by in fleecy tufts, and wet leaves laughed

sun-washed on earth by all the raindrops' seven hues.

The troop once more pushed down the road and sank in mud,

bright parrots whistled through the air and flashed their wings,

small beasts poked out and licked and dried themselves in sun,

and every backbone on earth laughed, refreshed by rain.

The lone man's breast, too, laughed as though it were the wood's

parched heart where it had rained and where the sun now shone

his nostrils quivered with the smells of moistened earth,

and when they'd lit their fires at night and stretched to eat

he asked both of his friends with brotherly affection

to share a fat wild kid he'd killed along the way.

When they had licked it to the bone, the sated archer

slowly and with no joy or pain disclosed his thoughts:

"Aye, friends, I look upon the world and see two paths,

but still my mind has not resolved what road to take;

I'm thinking of the piper, lads, and of man's heart."

He stopped and stroked his cub until his mind grew calm

then told his friends about the piper's wretched downfall;

sometimes he burst out laughing, but at times he stooped

and poked the fire to choke the hidden sighs that rose:

"When will the heart, that clinging burr, come to her senses?

She sets lime-twigs on earth to catch some birds, then goes

wool-gathering and gets caught herself, and starts to sing."

Pot-bellied Kentaur deeply sighed and rose to leave:

"All of us, bone and soul, all push on toward our ruin.

To meet your doom by women's kisses, wine, or sword

is not a heavy shame and suits the

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.