Night Falls on Ithaca

52Odysseus, the sagacious, answered thus:
“O gracious consort of Laertes’ son!
Let not this contest be delayed; the man
Of ready wiles, Odysseus, will be here
Ere, tampering with the hero’s polished bow,
The suitors shall prevail to stretch the cord,
And send an arrow through the rings of steel.”

53And thus the sage Penelope rejoined:
“Stranger, if, sitting in the palace here,
You still would entertain me as you do,
Sleep would not fall upon my lids; and yet
Sleepless the race of mortals cannot be,
So have the gods ordained, who measure out
His lot to man upon the nourishing earth.
I to the upper rooms withdraw, to take
My place upon the couch which has become
To me a place of sorrow and of tears
Since my Odysseus went away to Troy,
That fatal town which should be named no more.
And I will lay me down; but you remain
Within these walls, and make the floor your bed,
Or let these maidens spread a couch for you.”

54Penelope, thus having spoken, went
Up to her royal bower, but not alone;
Her maids went with her. When they were within
She wept for her dear husband, till at length
The blue-eyed Athena graciously distilled
Upon her closing lids the balm of sleep.