Verse
Odyssey
Book 11, Line 204 by Samuel Butler (English)
"Then I tried to find some way of embracing my mother's ghost [ psukhê ]. Thrice I sprang towards her and tried to clasp her in my arms, but each time she flitted from my embrace as it were a dream or phantom, and being touched to the quick I said to her, ‘Mother, why do you not stay still when I would embrace you? If we could throw our arms around one another we might find sad comfort in the sharing of our sorrows [ akhos ] even in the house of Hades; does Persephone want to lay a still further load of grief upon me by mocking me with a phantom only?’
OdysseyBook 11, Line 204Samuel ButlerEnglishVerse permalinkRead in Book 11
HomerProseID odyssey-odyssey-butler-en-prose-11-204