The American Odyssey Adventures of Ulysses (So much as may interest the present time); Exposed, in modest hudibrastic measure, by Abel Reid and A. N. Broome ... To which is appended an allegory of King Augeas |
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| 1. | BOOK THE FIRST |
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| 4. |
 | The American Odyssey |  |
BOOK THE FIRST
THE ARGUMENT
How great Ulysses, in the caveOf danger most extreme,
Exposed his wisdom and did brave
The one-eyed Polypheme.
Ulysses' hopes and toils and woes,—
His wanderings from first to close,—
Inspire me, Muse! that I may say,
Or sing, in a prevailing way.
We all know how his martial skill
Baffled the Trojan horse until
At Appomattox they gave in,—
Both horse and man. I would begin
My lay what time he, taking rest
With King Alcineus, his request
Attending, did to him relate
The story of his after fate.
The King and he had duly dined;
Fed well, and, being fully wined,
Retired to Ulysses' private room,
To taste tobacco's best perfume.
Coarse portraits hanging round the walls,
All in due order of their stalls,
Of his choice friends, preferr'd as stable,—
First-brand Havanas on the table,
And lackey waiting at the door,
In case his Highness rang for more,—
United Royalty were sat;
And after sandwiching their chat
With monologues of that and this,
King Alcineus of Wise Ulyss'
Inquired, desirous of a view
Of the perils that he had gone through,
Et cetera. The Wise-in-speech
Drew demijohn within his reach—
But start, Muse! without more demur.
How sweet (Ulysses loquitur)
The products of a peaceful reign!
The well-fill'd White House and the gain
Of fat revenues, frequent feast,
And drink, and smoke; and, not the least
Of royal joys, but president,
The knowing such things permanent!
O King Alcineus! thou art blest:
But I—I'm but a brief-term guest,
Scarce saddled on my regal right;
And poor my record. Small delight
My tale can give thy kingly mind.
We sail'd from Ilion. The wind,
Fair for our voyage, full quickly bore
Our vessel to the Shycoons' shore,
Where, anchoring in Samana's Bay,
We hoped to make an easy prey;
But were repulsed,—it boots not how:
So weigh'd, and set our craft with prow
Toward the Lotophagian Isle.
The Gods themselves take many a smile
To that enchanting land, whose Lars
Welcome all strangers, and great jars
Crooked and deep and brimm'd with juice
Hold to the thirsty-lipp'd. Long use
Had we of that nectareous food,
And ever found the taste more good,
More tasteful, and with full content
Were minded so our lives to 've spent;
But Fate, that overrules design,
Drove us again across the brine,
And flung us, in unlucky hour,
Among the Cyclops, who devour
Those victims stranded on their coast.
Haled there, I know not why, but toss'd
By treacherous waves, their dark domain
We invade, scarce to escape again.
There wandering loosely to and fro,
We chanced unwittingly to go
Into, as one goes to his grave,
The Cyclop Polyphemus' cave;
And hardly had we time to hide
I' the cupboard, when the wretch, left-eyed,
With close-wrapp'd bandage o'er the right,
Round prying with unequal sight,
Beheld us. Of my comrades two
He seized; and straight his wide maw knew
Their bodies, living there in-thrown,
Quick-crunch'd, as hound might crunch a bone.
Grimly he grinn'd, and turn'd agape
Myself-ward. “Let no man escape!”
I craftily exclaim'd, with thought
By ready guile to bring to naught
His greedier will. For if one word
Assenting fell from him, that cord
Would bind his after acts and fix
My safety, as if sworn by Sticks:
For I myself call'd by that name
Of No-man. But my little game
Of bluff was useless, and no sound
Articulate for answer found,
But noise of ruminance. Unsate,
Two more he lifted. One he ate;
Th' other, the purser of my ship
And captain's clerk, gave him the slip.
For while the One-eyed smiling lingers,
Licking the warm blood from his fingers,
He drops out from the mess of gore,
And in the letter-hole o' the door
Squeezes himself with lucky wit.
He got him pass'd adown the slit;
And I, though thicker, would have crept
Through also, but the monster slept
After his gorge; so I design'd
The means to make my enemy blind,
With handy spear-point in his eye:
And then myself and friends would fly.
But we were barr'd in, the door shut
And bolted, and we could not put
The bolt back; and so kept “to hum,”
The while he snored we drank his rum,
Until—
His wanderings from first to close,—
Inspire me, Muse! that I may say,
Or sing, in a prevailing way.
We all know how his martial skill
Baffled the Trojan horse until
At Appomattox they gave in,—
Both horse and man. I would begin
My lay what time he, taking rest
With King Alcineus, his request
Attending, did to him relate
The story of his after fate.
The King and he had duly dined;
Fed well, and, being fully wined,
Retired to Ulysses' private room,
To taste tobacco's best perfume.
Coarse portraits hanging round the walls,
All in due order of their stalls,
6
First-brand Havanas on the table,
And lackey waiting at the door,
In case his Highness rang for more,—
United Royalty were sat;
And after sandwiching their chat
With monologues of that and this,
King Alcineus of Wise Ulyss'
Inquired, desirous of a view
Of the perils that he had gone through,
Et cetera. The Wise-in-speech
Drew demijohn within his reach—
But start, Muse! without more demur.
How sweet (Ulysses loquitur)
The products of a peaceful reign!
The well-fill'd White House and the gain
Of fat revenues, frequent feast,
And drink, and smoke; and, not the least
Of royal joys, but president,
The knowing such things permanent!
O King Alcineus! thou art blest:
But I—I'm but a brief-term guest,
Scarce saddled on my regal right;
And poor my record. Small delight
My tale can give thy kingly mind.
We sail'd from Ilion. The wind,
Fair for our voyage, full quickly bore
Our vessel to the Shycoons' shore,
Where, anchoring in Samana's Bay,
We hoped to make an easy prey;
But were repulsed,—it boots not how:
So weigh'd, and set our craft with prow
Toward the Lotophagian Isle.
The Gods themselves take many a smile
7
Welcome all strangers, and great jars
Crooked and deep and brimm'd with juice
Hold to the thirsty-lipp'd. Long use
Had we of that nectareous food,
And ever found the taste more good,
More tasteful, and with full content
Were minded so our lives to 've spent;
But Fate, that overrules design,
Drove us again across the brine,
And flung us, in unlucky hour,
Among the Cyclops, who devour
Those victims stranded on their coast.
Haled there, I know not why, but toss'd
By treacherous waves, their dark domain
We invade, scarce to escape again.
There wandering loosely to and fro,
We chanced unwittingly to go
Into, as one goes to his grave,
The Cyclop Polyphemus' cave;
And hardly had we time to hide
I' the cupboard, when the wretch, left-eyed,
With close-wrapp'd bandage o'er the right,
Round prying with unequal sight,
Beheld us. Of my comrades two
He seized; and straight his wide maw knew
Their bodies, living there in-thrown,
Quick-crunch'd, as hound might crunch a bone.
Grimly he grinn'd, and turn'd agape
Myself-ward. “Let no man escape!”
I craftily exclaim'd, with thought
By ready guile to bring to naught
His greedier will. For if one word
Assenting fell from him, that cord
8
My safety, as if sworn by Sticks:
For I myself call'd by that name
Of No-man. But my little game
Of bluff was useless, and no sound
Articulate for answer found,
But noise of ruminance. Unsate,
Two more he lifted. One he ate;
Th' other, the purser of my ship
And captain's clerk, gave him the slip.
For while the One-eyed smiling lingers,
Licking the warm blood from his fingers,
He drops out from the mess of gore,
And in the letter-hole o' the door
Squeezes himself with lucky wit.
He got him pass'd adown the slit;
And I, though thicker, would have crept
Through also, but the monster slept
After his gorge; so I design'd
The means to make my enemy blind,
With handy spear-point in his eye:
And then myself and friends would fly.
But we were barr'd in, the door shut
And bolted, and we could not put
The bolt back; and so kept “to hum,”
The while he snored we drank his rum,
Until—
And here Alcineus too
Was snoring, and so never knew,
Unless he learn'd it in a dream,
How wise Ulyss' baulk'd Polypheme.
Was snoring, and so never knew,
Unless he learn'd it in a dream,
How wise Ulyss' baulk'd Polypheme.
| The American Odyssey | |