Word for Laertes Deferred

15Then thus, Eumaeus, you did make reply:
“Enough, I see it all, your words are said
To one who understands them. But, I pray,
Direct me whether in my way to take
A message to Laertes, the distressed.
While sorrowing for Odysseus he oversaw
The labors of the field, and ate and drank,
As he had appetite, with those who wrought.
But since your voyage to the Pylian coast
They say he never takes his daily meals
As he was wont, nor oversees the work,
But sits and mourns and sighs and pines away,
Until his limbs are shrivelled to the bone.”

16Then spoke discreet Telemachus again:
“ It is sad, but we must leave him to his grief
A little while. Could everything be made
To happen as we mortals wish, I then
Would first desire my father’s safe return.
But you, when you have given your message, haste
Hither again, nor wander through the fields
To him; but let my mother send at once
The matron of her household, privately,
To bear the tidings to the aged man.”