Sunrise

Sunrise
Sunrise on Sunset Beach

Monday, January 10, 2011

Telemachus Tends his Driveway

Athens, Georgia
November 22, 2010; revised April 30, 2014
Thoughts revisiting Tennyson’s Ulysses and his son Telemachus

The world shimmers
beyond the kaleidoscopic canopy
decorating my driveway
with layers of leaves.

So I set my purpose
•       make a plan
•       grasp the rake
•       execute the task
mindfully, at first
while two tired dogs
watch, curiously
indifferent to achievement,
snouts down the driveway,
waiting for their goddess
to drive home.

And I too wait
as something in my soul
watches with practiced patience
its own wild yearning
to pursue that grey spirit
through archways to unknown worlds
        and yet

I have lived so far
in the common sphere
with Telemachus, tied
to due adoration of gods
both false and true, balancing
dutiful with discerning
over slow, prudent decades:
       of discipline
       of accomplishment
       of exiting gracefully
a life, not unhappy
        while a soul that could soar
kept safely to ground.

Can Telemachus, retired
capture Ulysses’ soul?
Can the good son
        sail lightly
                beyond the sunset
        on a warm autumn breeze
                        and swirl of dry leaves?

My solace is a still vision
of grey Telemachus
        transcending duty
grasping his own salvation
        in the next task,
                and the next
pursued with a passionate
        kindness.

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