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| Looking to the Sea |
As Odysseus and his men are preparing to leave Aeolia to
sail back to Ithaka, Aeolus, king of the winds, gives Odysseus a leather sack
containing all of the winds except the west wind which will take them safely
home. Aeolus tells Odysseus not to open
it or he will release storm and chaos onto the waters. Odysseus does not tell his men that this is
what is in the sack. After a week or so
of sailing calmly and nearly in sight of the homeland, when Odysseus is sleeping, the men begin to suspect
that Odysseus is hiding a treasure keeping the booty all for himself, and so they open the
satchel to look for gold and instead they release the winds turning the sea into terrible storm and chaos, driving
the ship back to Aeolia.
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| Winds from the North |
The release of the wind yesterday morning was like that—a
sudden declarative burst of turmoil from the north as if the merciful satchel had
been opened, keeping the ships from advancing and forcing them into the
harbor. Now I can see that these winds on
Serifos come up for days on end and trees could never survive on the open
hills. The island is like a gigantic hard
surfaced sea turtle and we are riding on its back. Today we have 50 mph gusts, howling and
buffeting the house. Nothing that I
haven’t been through in Olympia. Here it
is actually safer because there are no trees to be blown down.
Last night, I closed the heavy shutters against the wind and
felt myself entering a cave of silence.
Nothing outside, only this interior darkness. I could begin to sense what I feel is the mystery of the starkness and reticence of the Greek nature. Completely gregarious and bursting with dance on one side, and a dark unspeaking reserve on the other. Howling persisted all night and this morning
I woke to darkness as the shutters block out any light as well as wind. The small sailboats are holding steady in the
harbor. This commotion may continue for
several more days, I suppose until we are driven back to Aeolia where Aeolus
will refuse to help but send the ship off again only to arrive at the land of the
Laestrygonians. Woe is me!!
