Reading the Omen

50And thus Odysseus, the sagacious, said:
“Lady, the dream that visited your sleep
Cannot be wrested to another sense.
Odysseus has himself revealed to you
The way of its fulfillment. Death is near
The suitors, and not one escapes his doom.”

51Then spoke the sage Penelope again:
“Of dreams, O stranger, some are meaningless
And idle, and can never be fulfilled.
Two portals are there for their shadowy shapes,
Of ivory one, and one of horn. The dreams
That come through the carved ivory deceive
With promises that never are made good;
But those which pass the doors of polished horn,
And are beheld of men, are ever true.
And yet I cannot hope that my strange dream
Came through them, though my son and I would both
Rejoice if it were so. This let me say,
And heed me well. Tomorrow brings to us
The hateful morn which takes me from my home,
The palace of Odysseus. I shall now
Propose a contest. In the palace court
Odysseus in a row set up twelve stakes,
Like props that hold a galley up; each stake
Had its own ring; he stood afar, and sent
An arrow through them all. I shall propose
This contest to the suitors. He who bends
The bow with easy mastery, and sends
Through the twelve rings an arrow, I will take
To follow from the palace where I passed
My youthful married life —a beautiful home,
And stored with wealth; a home which I shall long
Remember, even in my nightly dreams.”