Poem for Monday

Odysseus
By W.S. Merwin

Always the setting forth was the same,
Same sea, same dangers waiting for him
As though he had got nowhere but older.
Behind him on the receding shore
The identical reproaches, and somewhere
Out before him, the unraveling patience
He was wedded to. There were the islands
Each with its woman and twining welcome
To be navigated, and one to call "home."
The knowledge of all that he betrayed
Grew till it was the same whether he stayed
Or went. Therefore he went. And what wonder
If sometimes he could not remember
Which was the one who wished on his departure
Perils that he could never sail through,
And which, improbable, remote, and true,
Was the one he kept sailing home to?

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Poem stolen shamelessly from . I gave her a Russell Crowe poster so I don't feel so badly. *g*

Which reminds me, I had an amusing thing happen on the Boston Tea Party sail...one of the actors overheard my son talking about Master and Commander and mentioned that in the Liberty Clipper office on the wharf, they had a whole box of free posters from the movie (the folded ones that were given out in The Washington Post and, I gather, The Boston Globe). They gave me several, which I promptly gave away to people I had dinner with while traveling. But anyone in or near Boston who's a fan, if you are near the Liberty Clipper offices, it might be worth sticking your head in and asking if you can have a poster.

And: Geoff Hunt will be at Mystic Seaport on August 26th to sign copies of the collection of his paintings that they will be publishing! Is anyone here in or near Mystic or at least close enough to go, take pictures, etc.?

Must remember to post my LOTR exhibit shots...not inside the exhibit, but the museum halls, the outdoor banners, etc. Also the chipmunks in Concord, the frog in the Saint-Gaudens garden, the squirrels at Boston Common, the flowers at the Cornish Colony Museum, and the good aquarium photos. I'm following a strict "my LJ, my space" philosophy, with bows to courtesy but it's very obvious I can't please all of the people all of the time and "spam" is very much in the eye of the beholder. I have not posted more than a single photo uncut in a post, and I have not posted more than two posts involving photos in a 24-hour period. (It is rare for me to post more than twice in a day anyway unless I have fan fiction and something major going on.) So I am likely to continue to post single uncut photos in entries as the photos come up, because I like the way it looks when I load my journal.

Since I started the trip photos with the Delaware Memorial Bridge, here, to end, is a pic from the other side, and a couple of random images through the windshield.


Driving from Salem to Andover, we discovered great restaurant signs, including the Leaning Tower of Pizza...


...this all-American steak place with dozens of plastic cows in front and an impressive collection of southwestern kitsch...


...and this Italian seafood place built into a tall ship.


This restaurant-boat, on the other hand, is in Massachusetts on the way to Cape Cod from New Bedford.


The tavern that said could have been the one Stephen Maturin visited while in Boston. (Now have bunny involving Stephen and Jack in modern-day Boston with Jack sneaking glances at ESPN and Stephen earnestly trying to convince people that really cocaine isn't so bad...)


This is the closest I came to taking a photo of Fenway Park.


Here's a lighthouse on the Hudson River from the Tappan Zee Bridge...


...and the aforementioned Delaware Memorial Bridge, driving south.