Penelope's Lament

Oh Odysseus! Where is your heart? Does it beat, or is it cold?
Are you still breathing ? Which far corner of my world do you stay now?
Oh, HOW I wait months after months for a dream that may never come?
I told myself to wait, a long time ago, and now pain comes full circle.
Everyday I stare at the sun, and everynight at the moon, in plain
anticipation. How somber sonnets flow scroll by scroll from my fingers?

O' Gods, give me an answer! Be it pain, be it sweet. Any answer will do.
Time and confusion freezes me in my heart, and my every pulse is
slow-ed. You Gods-- say yes and send me a ship, or say no and send me a coffin.


with prayers,
Penelope