"Courage!" He said
ULYSSES, debarking in the Lotos Land, Struck the one note that the hapless Ithacans Travel-sick, mazed, bemused, could understand, And understanding, follow. "Courage," he said, "remember, is not Hope!" He left the worn, safe ship, spume-stained and hollow. "To be courageous is to face despair." And through the groves and 'thwart the ambient air Resounded reedy echoes: "Face despair!" But this they understood. And plunging on prepared for best, and most prepared For worst, found only in their stride A deep umbrageous wood, And grassy plains where they disported; eased And bathed lame feet within a purling stream And murmured: "Here, Odysseus, would we fain abide!" But neither the stream's sweet ease Nor the shade of the vast beech-trees, Nor the blessed sense Of the sweet, sweet soil Beneath feet salt-cracked and worn Brought to them even then, (Still fainting and frayed and forlorn), Such complete recompense As the knowledge that once again Facing the new and untried, They had kept the courage of men! By: Jessie Redman Fauset |