Island Of Sweet Hope © Surazeus 2025 04 16 When the shining sun of desperate hope is obliterated from the clear sky by haunting shadow of the howling moon, Odysseus crawls on sore hands and knees across the sparkling sands of Ithaca, and cries out with joy at his return home. Three thousand two hundred and three years later I stand in evening dusk on back wood deck of my home in sultry Appalachian hills near turbid waters of Oconee River, and feel ache of nostalgia in my heart for homecoming of heroes from harsh wars. How far from Ithaca in sailing boats my ancestors journeyed on endless search to find lush valley with the Tree of Life where we may gather in the evening dusk to party with pleasure of being alive, sweet visions that program how my brain dreams. Now far away from Island of sweet hope I dwell in temporary paradise in quaint comfortable home I did not build where my wife and children may safely dwell to create beautiful art about life with eager passion of dream-crafting hands. Soon the shining sun of desperate hope may get obliterated from the sky by readjustment of the fate machine when devil of greed who escaped from Hell possesses old king with ambitious pride to again wreck grand towers of Ilium. This cruel Agamemnon in our White House, who has unleashed mad Achilles in hate with avaricious chainsaw of contempt to exile countless good people from Heaven, sneers with bitter disgust for honest law while he rampages in careless revenge. If wily Odysseus with clever ploy would evict cruel tyrant from our White House to rebuild our great empire he destroys instead of helping trash America, he could return to Island of sweet hope with esteem that he saved our land from greed. We call on wise Athena to attend urgent mission restoring our great land by turning heart of sly Odysseus from selfish greed to selfless courtesy with courageous compassion of respect to save our homeland from invasive thieves.
Wednesday, April 16, 2025
Island Of Sweet Hope
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Orpheus plays lyre of Mercury and sings tale of the Return Home at the feast when Odysseus celebrates saving America from tyrannical thieves.
ReplyDeleteIn the Odyssey a prophet predicts Odysseus will return home when the sun is obliterated from the sky.
ReplyDeleteAstronomers found there was a solar eclipse on April 16, 1178 BC.
So 3,203 years ago today Odysseus arrived home.
The poem "Island Of Sweet Hope" by Surazeus (dated April 16, 2025) layers classical myth with contemporary political critique, using Homer’s Odyssey as a lens to examine the state of the United States in 2025. This fusion of the mythic and the modern transforms the personal and national into an epic narrative of homecoming, identity, and moral reckoning.
ReplyDeleteI. Mythic Structure and the Odyssey Parallel
ReplyDeleteSurazeus echoes the arc of the Odyssey, especially the theme of homecoming (nostos) and the struggle against chaos and tyranny. Odysseus’ journey back to Ithaca becomes a metaphor for the American condition in 2025, and more personally, the speaker’s own longing for stability and meaning in uncertain times.
> Odysseus crawling “on sore hands and knees” across Ithaca's sands evokes the emotional climax of his return—symbolizing hard-earned peace after suffering.
> The poet then projects this moment across three millennia, placing himself in the Appalachian hills, haunted by modern wars and yearning for a similar heroic resolution.
II. Political Allegory in 2025
ReplyDeleteIn the latter stanzas, the poem moves sharply into allegory and political commentary, situating the myth within the context of present-day U.S. politics:
> The “devil of greed who escaped from Hell” and the “old king with ambitious pride” are depicted as contemporary American political figures, possibly referencing a former or current president whose actions are seen as regressive or destructive.
> "Agamemnon in our White House" is a particularly sharp metaphor: Agamemnon in Homer is a king who leads the Greeks in war, only to be murdered upon his return—his story is one of hubris, power, and betrayal. Here, he's transformed into a symbol of political tyranny and injustice, one who "unleashed mad Achilles in hate."
> The “chainsaw of contempt” and “exile of countless good people from Heaven” allude to policies of cruelty, division, and social erosion, likely invoking themes such as immigration, inequality, and authoritarianism.
III. The Call for Redemption and Resistance
ReplyDeleteThe poem ends with a hopeful invocation:
> Odysseus is reimagined as an everyman or potential hero, someone complicit but not beyond redemption. The speaker pleads for him to reject “selfish greed” and embrace “selfless courtesy,” aligning with ideals of civic responsibility and moral courage.
> Athena’s invocation is a classical appeal to wisdom and strategy—calling on divine intelligence to restore balance and justice. In political terms, it is a call to awaken ethical leadership, for reason to triumph over vengeance and ambition.
IV. The Island of Sweet Hope: A Mythic America
ReplyDeleteThe titular “Island of Sweet Hope” represents:
> A mythologized version of America, perhaps an idealized vision of what the nation once aspired to be—free, fair, artistic, united in “eager passion of dream-crafting hands.”
> It is both a real home (in the Appalachian foothills) and a symbolic Ithaca—a place worth returning to, reclaiming, and preserving against the corrupting forces of greed and violence.
Conclusion: An Epic for the American Soul
ReplyDeleteSurazeus's poem is deeply Homeric in structure and spirit, yet entirely contemporary in its urgency. By embedding the mythic narrative of Odysseus into a commentary on America’s political struggle in 2025, the poet positions himself—and the reader—as a witness to a modern-day epic where the stakes are national identity, moral integrity, and the fate of a republic.
This poem reminds us that just like Odysseus, nations and leaders can lose their way—but they might still find a route home, if guided by wisdom, humility, and collective courage.