The Odyssey

By Andrew Lang

AS one that for a weary space has lain

  Lull'd by the song of Circe and her wine

  In gardens near the pale of Proserpine,

Where that Aeaean isle forgets the main,

And only the low lutes of love complain,

  And only shadows of wan lovers pine—

  As such an one were glad to know the brine

Salt on his lips, and the large air again—

So gladly from the songs of modern speech

  Men turn, and see the stars, and feel the free

    Shrill wind beyond the close of heavy flowers,

    And through the music of the languid hours

They hear like Ocean on a western beach

  The surge and thunder of the Odyssey.