Homer: The Odyssey — Chapter 6

"Oh! were I as young and as fresh and as strongAs when under Troy, brother soldiers among,In ambush as captains were chosen to lieOdysseus and King Menelaus and I!

"They called me as third, and I came at the word,And reached the high walls that the citadel gird;When under the town we in armour lay downBy a brake in the marshes with weeds overgrown.The night came on sharp, bleak the north wind did blow,And frostily cold fell a thick shower of snow

"Soon with icicles hoar every shield was frozen o'er;But they who their cloaks and their body-clothes woreThe night lightly passed, secure from the blast,Asleep with their shields o'er their broad shoulders cast;But I, like a fool, had my cloak left behind,Not expecting to shake in so piercing a wind.

"My buckler and zone—nothing more—had I on;But when the third part of the night-watch was gone,And the stars left the sky, with my elbow then ITouched Odysseus, and spoke to him, lying close by—'Noble son of Laertes, Odysseus the wise,I fear that alive I shall never arise

"'In this night so severe but one doublet I wear—Deceived by a god—and my cloak is not here,And no way I see from destruction to flee.'But soon to relieve me a project had he.In combat or council still prompt was his head,And into my ear thus low whisp'ring he said:—

"'Let none of the band this your need understand;Keep silent.' Then, resting his head on his hand,—'Friends and comrades of mine,' he exclaimed, 'as a sign,While I slept has come o'er me a dream all divine.It has warned me how far from the vessels we lie,And that some one should go for fresh force to apply;

"'And his footsteps should lead, disclosing our need,To King Agamemnon, our chieftain, with speed.'Thoas rose as he spoke, flung off his red cloak,And running, his way with the message he took;While, wrapt in his garment, I pleasantly layTill the rise of the golden-throned queen of the day.

"'If I now were as young, and as fresh, and as strong,Perhaps here in the stables you swine-herds amongSome a mantle would lend, as the act of a friend,Or from the respect that on worth should attend;But small is the honour, I find, that is paidTo one who, like me, is so meanly arrayed.'"—(Maginn's 'Homeric Ballads.')