Return
by Sheri Lindner

Like Odysseus, you may someday return
To the Ithaca from where you set your course
In a time before you knew that you would go
When home contained the wonders of the world.

From Ithaca you set your compass course
And raised your sail to catch the fairest winds
Though home contained some wonders of the world
You heard the call of all that lay beyond.

You raised your sail to catch the fairest winds
And took your tread from its familiar hearth
And listened to the beckoning urgent call
To shape your life according to its truth.

You took your tread from its familiar hearth
And learned to set your footprint by your soul
To shape your life according to its truth
The gods could not have granted more than that.

You learned to set your footprint by your soul
And steer where you, alone, know you must go
The gods could not have granted more than this
To anchor in a harbor you’d call home.

You steer where you, alone, know you must go
As fair winds grace you, keeping your course true
Until you find your harbor, though it be
In seas that hug the far curve of the earth.

As fair winds grace you, guide you on a course
That you and we could never have foretold
Your heart keeps time with the far curve of the earth
Far from where we in Ithaca remain.

No, you and we could never have foretold
The glorious curve, the route your ship would trace
Yet, we who stay in Ithaca still yearn
That like Odysseus, you may someday return.



Previously published in The Nassau County Poet Laureate Society Review, Vol 2, 2014.



 

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