JOLLY DAYS

Questions

Calypso offers Odysseus eternal youth and pleasure in exchange for his identity; but Odysseus refuses all, for an uncertain journey home,

“Much have I suffered, labored long and hard by now
in the waves and wars. Add this to the total—
bring the trial on!

How much home and identity matter — worth risking everything for.

::::

Confused, finding himself in mists on a strange shore, Odysseus asks himself,

“…whose land have I lit on now?
What are they here—violent, savage, lawless?—
or friendly to strangers, god-fearing men?”

The eternal questions of the traveler. (Without realizing it, Odysseus had been transported home. As it turned out the questions were still apt.)