Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE ODYSSEY: BOOK 24. LAERTES (2), by HOMER


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THE ODYSSEY: BOOK 24. LAERTES (2), by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Thereat laertes answered him and said
Last Line: Caught up his father fainting unto him.
Subject(s): Mythology - Classical


Thereat Laertes answered him and said:
'If thou art verily my son Odysseus,
Come home again, now tell me of some sign
Infallible, so that I may be sure.'
Then deep Odysseus answered him and said:
'Look first on this scar and consider it,
Where the boar ripped me with his gleaming tusk,
Upon Parnassus, whither I had gone.
Thou and my honoured mother, ye had sent me
Unto Autolycus, my mother's father,
To get the gifts which on his coming hither
He promised and agreed to give me. But
Come, I will tell thee also of the trees
Through all this ordered garden, which of old
Thou gavest me when I was but a child
Begging for this and that, and following thee
All through the garden. 'Twas these very trees
That we were passing, and thou toldest me
The name and kind of each, and gavest me
Thirteen pear-trees, ten apple-trees, and figs
Two score; and fifty rows of vines as well
Thou namedst as the ones which I should have,
Whereof each row ripened successively,
Bearing all sorts of clusters, whensoe'er
Zeus' seasons from above weighed down on them.'
E'en as he spoke, his father's knees and heart
Were loosed, to recognize the certain signs
Odysseus told him; and he cast his arms
Round his dear son, and steadfast good Odysseus
Caught up his father fainting unto him.





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