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Penelope 022414Rr PENELOPE and the Fisherman’s Daughter Telemachus and Telegonus have the stress on the second syllable for the meter to ring right Preface The absences and homecoming of Odysseus follows Homer. The narrator is invented as are Clea and Nicodemus. The relation between Ithaca and King Mark’s island of Kephalonia is imagined. For events and characters after Homer leaves off I am indebted to the scholarship of Robert Graves ‘Greek Myths’. 2 Prologue Odysseus’ palace on the Isle of Ithaca. The light of day is dimming into dark, The sun-god’s chariot takes him to rest, His glowing orb descends beyond the sea Whence, energy renewed, awakes another day. The banquet hall echoes with revelry. A lovely woman in a long green gown – Of silk purchased in trade from Italy – Purchased in trade fir we had of wealth, Some iron ore used in the making of bronze, Which I have sewn from raw material, Lounges on goose-down pillows, golden hub Whereon like spokes aspiring men converge, Princes and rulers from the lesser isles Who owe allegiance to Odysseus, Usurper of the lordship of the isles, All eager to be chosen for her bed With benefits of such a union, And she indeed would like to make her choice - A choice she has in fact already made – How that could be I later will relate - A fair and well-washed man, about her age 3 Named Nicodemus, or for short, Nico, Son of the King of Kephalonia The most important and the largest isle Of many smaller that comprise the realm, The only isle with soil fertile enough To grow the wheat on which we all depend For making bread that is our staple food. This Nico talks of music and of rhyme Unlike the other dark-eyed rough-necked men Who liked to talk of weaponry and war. She fears by naming Nico as her choice The other suitors in their jealousy Would turn his luck in life to loss of life. This is Penelope, Odysseus’ wife, ‘Wily’ Odysseus, man of grit and guile, in all a rich and rugged sort of man with little humor and short-lived char which he found useful in his wiliness pleasing to women but not my taste, a fruit that has been harvested too soon, untimely severed from its mothers sap So never reached its sweet potential. And he long gone to fight the Trojan war Which took ten years and now another ten In which long time there is no news of him. 4 We’d only heard he sailed away from Troy. He is her husband not from love of her But as the spoils of war when with his men Marauding down the coast he overran The island empire which he made his own - By marrying the queen he was the king. She combs her long gold tresses and reflects How golden hair means divine heritage She and her cousin Helen called ‘of Troy’ When others of her sex are curly black And swarthy like the children that they bear. Odysseus went to fight he Trojan war. Dead or alive, there is no news of him. The years go by, Odysseus has not come, And in the meantime she rules in his stead, A role she carries out efficiently, With patience and a clear authority, Fair in her judgment and compassionate For those who struggled daily to survive. She liked the power and the privilege Which she was wielding with such graceful tact That no one questioned her authority. Each day she worked on the affairs of state, Assisted by Nico, her favorite, Who took the royal barge three times a week 5 At the suggestion of the king himself To cross the water that divided them Each evening the loom is taken out, In came the suitors with their rowdiness And constant pleas to state a preference For with her choosing came great benefit. According to the Greek usurpers’ law Who weds the widowed queen becomes the king. All of the suitors think he must be dead, She’s not so sure, knowing full well Why ‘wily’ is a fitting sobriquet. Penelope is not a widow yet. Meanwhile she acts as ruler of the realm Which serves to occupy her time and mind In the long years Odysseus roams about Lost in the waters of the ocean wild. She’s got together a small group of men Who form her council, and the principal Is Mark the king of Kephalonia. She worked out legal ways to rob the rich – As they saw it – to help the sick and poor. Surprisingly the council all concurred Seeing she was immensely popular The council comes together twice a month. Mark sometimes brings his son along to learn, And that is how she came to know Nico. 6 I’m like a little lizard on the wall, Not noticed, but noticing it all. * * * * One evening, and all the suitors there, A panting messenger arrives to say: A hairy, briny man is come ashore Leaving a decrepit boat upon the lips, The pouty lips of the dark, secret sea, Staggers across the stones and dried sea-weed Collapses on a bed of new-cut reeds And lies exhausted seemingly asleep. Concerned and anxious as the suitors are - Their lord and master has come home again? Penelope first frowns and then presents A hopeful look, and this duality Is from her own mental perplexity. She wants him back as she remembers him Those last few days before he went to war, If he will be the same as he was then – Those loving words and then his last embrace. I love her and I know she’s fond of me. I help her dress, massage her legs and arms, Keep clean and fresh her fashionable gowns – 7 The most of which are made up by myself - Prepare her bed, put ointment on her skin, fetch water from the cookhouse, things like that. She parts her legs and I do private things To pleasure her. But she is not that way, She’s not the sort who lusts for her own sex, but ever feels the clamor of desire. I tell you this so you can realize I know her thoughts and feelings as my own. She was pragmatic in her management, At the same time she was most romantic Wanting to love and likewise to be loved. She craved a secret lover in her life. Sometimes intolerant without reason, Sometimes forgiving or not noticing Egregious error of behavior. Ever conscious of her regality. She was decisive when she needed be Indecisive about trivial things – Not that she ever thought of them as such - While suffering from insecurity, Something that only I was privy to. She’s told me of the suitor she preferred, But hinted she would drop him soon enough If her Odyssus showed his love for her, And Nico later told me his complaint 8 When he discovered she was using him. Meanwhile she made the suitors wait. She had a project of fine tapestry That she was working on, and this she used As an excuse for the delay. She said That she must finish weaving it in time To give it the one who was her choice For hanging on the wall beside their bed. Some said that she unraveled it at night. The suitors dared in their audacity To fill the hall with vulgar argument, Using the palace as a public house, Drinking her wine and feasting on her food. Such impudence she could not well prevent, While to Telemachus they paid no heed, Apparently while plotting his demise, For he would inherit and his father dead. 1. I am the daughter of a fisherman Born into a life of hopeless poverty Sent to the palace at the age of three To be a playmate for Penelope. I was fair-haired, my parents were both dark, So I could fantasize a passing god Had laid my mother and put me in her. 9 Penelope’s long legs, slim arms and hands Forecast great bodily beauty to come. It was not long before I realized She was exceptional. She chose our game And if she lost she did not seem to mind, So we grew up together, rich and poor, Equal as children, pauper and princess. It was not long before I had acquired The speech and manners of the upper class. I lived like them – as in another world. Odysseus’ father, such a kindly man, Gave us a sketchy knowledge of our world, Our little world which was not very much, Mostly derived from myth and fable talk. He told us of the Hyperboreans, For an example, they were said to live Beyond the limits of the frozen north – Mother used to threaten disobedience – I’ll send you to the Hyperboreans, They’ll eat you up. But nobody could say What these fierce people look like, how they live, Or what they eat besides unruly kids. It is alleged they only have one eye. He told us many myths and fairy tales. Penelope’s old nurse taught us the skills 10 That any wife and mother must employ. Penelope was schooled in tapestry; Having her own small loom to practice on And many colored yarns to interweave And I, the rudiments of dress-making Starting from lengths of raw material. We both became proficient at the loom, Using the thread that we were taught to spin From fleeces after washing out the grease. When we were older I became her maid But I remained her friend and confidante Sharing her sadness or her happiness, Always I had to watch for signs of ire when anything I said or did was wrong.
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