{"id":1450,"date":"2023-04-25T08:58:10","date_gmt":"2023-04-25T08:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iandavidwallpoet.com\/?p=1450"},"modified":"2025-12-26T16:42:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T16:42:18","slug":"the-eyes-of-the-seer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iandavidwallpoet.com\/?p=1450","title":{"rendered":"The Eyes of The Seer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

I<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last night I dreamed that I returned to Delphi.  [1]<\/a> [2]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The untamed woods with gnarled green branches thrusting<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Skyward from dark trunks, those ancient groves<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nestling on the slopes of Mount Parnassus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The marble portico of the temple of  [3]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apollo, the colonnade dappled with a<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chiaroscuro of light and shade<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where we poured out libations to the God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Pythia, the priestess of the temple<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where the Delphic oracle resides, standing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tall, the conduit between the God and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Men.   What can I say about perhaps the\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

II<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE SCENE IS THE TEMPLE OF APOLLO AT KLAROS, ONE OF THE THREE MOST IMPORTANT ORACLES IN THE GREEK WORLD, ONLY THE ORACLE AT DELPHI BEING MORE IMPORTANT.   KALKAS, THE GREEK SEER AT TROY, HAS COME TO PETITION THE GOD.   HE IS MET BY THE PYTHIA. [4]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE PYTHIA<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kalkas, without rival in augury, why are you here?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KALKAS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O Pythia, Priestess of The Temple, I seek to drink of The Water of Insight and gain  knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE PYTHIA<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thrice will my Master,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The God Apollo,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allow you to drink of The Water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Oracle will show what The Oracle will show!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you see?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KALKAS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I see a scarlet dawn at the fishing port of Aulis,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Achaean long-boats are weather-bound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A strong north wind stops the fleet<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From sailing to Troy to avenge Paris<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the abduction of Helen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Huge white-tipped waves crash against the shore,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taut sails snap resoundingly,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The raucous calls of sea birds add to the cacophony,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The boats strain against worn hawsers [5]<\/a>,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our stores are nearly depleted,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The men are muttering and complaining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know<\/em> this!   I was there!   I asked for knowledge!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE PYTHIA<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is<\/em> knowledge!   The Oracle will show what The Oracle will show!   What else do you see?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KALKAS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I say to King Agamemnon, The Commander-in-Chief,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cArtemis must be propitiated!\u201d [6]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I see a father crucified by rage and pain,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In agonised indecision, his tears falling fulsomely,    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He knows what he must do, but the cost!  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Troy awaits.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Goddess demands.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He makes his choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I see Iphigenia, his daughter, brought bound, to the altar,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her lovely dark eyes wide and wild,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Innocent,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Struggling,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pitied and pitiable,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Praying that he might stay his hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet Agamemnon, ordering her gagged,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sacrifices her for the common good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His knife cuts deep,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her blood spurting, steaming and staining.[7]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Goddess is appeased.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The north wind veers,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sea is now calm.  <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The troops run to the boats,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hoist the sails.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fleet disembarks.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Troy is ahead!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE PYTHIA<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take your second sip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KALKAS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hopefully I will see something that I don\u2019t<\/em> know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE PYTHIA<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Oracle will show what The Oracle will show!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KALKAS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mortal, with one blow I am about to take away<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From you the delight of your eyes; <\/p>\n\n\n\n

yet you shall not mourn or weep, nor shall<\/p>\n\n\n\n

your tears run down.  [8]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sigh, but not aloud;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

make no mourning for the dead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bind on your turban, and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

put your sandals on your feet;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

do not cover your upper lip or<\/p>\n\n\n\n

eat the bread of mourners.  [9]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE PYTHIA<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who is speaking?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KALKAS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I see the prophet, Ezekiel,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Standing in a cold, dark, morning of his people\u2019s exile,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Word of The Lord God Almighty,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The King of Glory, coming to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE PYTHIA<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who is the King of Glory?  [10]<\/a>   Do you mean Zeus?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KALKAS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I do not know.   The meaning is oblique.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prophet\u2019s wife will die.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is being commanded not to carry out<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The normal funerary rites of his culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I see his indecision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The command is from his God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compliance is mandatory,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet she is his wife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To obey or not to obey, that is the question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hear Ezekiel say,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I spoke to the people in the morning, and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

at evening my wife died.  [11]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE PYTHIA<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take your third sip.   What do you see?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KALKAS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I see Troy in the noon-day sun,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The walls breached by trickery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The City sacked and burned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The spoils divided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I see blood running in the streets,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Men, women and children,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slaughtered, crowd the underworld,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Never to return. [12]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trojan women are carried off as prizes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By victorious Achaean warriors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I see Paris killed by the archer, Philoktetes,   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To avenge Helen,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See her rescued by her husband, Menelaus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know<\/em> this!   I was there!   I asked for knowledge!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE PYTHIA<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is<\/em> knowledge!   The Oracle will show what The Oracle will show!   What else do you see?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KALKAS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A man suffers on a cross at a place called Golgotha,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Darkness abounds, though it is afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I see his distant gaze,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hear him cry out, \u201cit is finished\u201d, [13]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

See him die.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has won the victory and will<\/em> return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I see other battles, other wars,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Called by names unknown to me,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gettysburg, El Alamein,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Salamis, The Teutoburg Forest,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Men and women dying innumerable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I see a day when the man who died on the cross<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will sit in judgement on all people<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From every time in history,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All will rise to learn their fate,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I see his name, it is Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I will<\/em> see him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE PYTHIA<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you see anything else?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KALKAS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I see my death,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tides of laughter sweeping over me,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Uncontrollable,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Breaking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE PYTHIA<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thrice has my Master,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The God Apollo,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allowed you to drink of The Water of Insight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Oracle showed what The Oracle showed!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

III<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most famour of oracles?   Did not Kalkas,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The greatest Greek seer among the Argive fleet  [14]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Troy, see past, present, and future,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through the mystical lens of the God\u2019s eye?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u00a9 Ian David Wall 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

[1]<\/a> Biblical quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, Anglicized version, copyright \u00a9 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.   Used by permission. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

[3]<\/a> I used Pythian VII, The Odes of Pindar, p. 35, note 9, translated by C.M. Bowra, to research this poem.   The poem is in anglicised Alcaic meter, my model was Tennyson\u2019s \u2018Milton\u2019, \u2018The Works of Alfred Lord Tennyson, Poet Laureate\u2019, McMillan & Co, 1896, p. 243,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[4]<\/a> The second section of this poem is based on \u2018Fire, Famine, and Slaughter.   A War Eclogue\u2019 by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.   Thanks to Aria Ligi for suggesting that I should rewrite the original poem in this style<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[5]<\/a> Thanks to Aria Ligi for her suggestion of \u201cworn\u201d hawsers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[6]<\/a> In researching this poem I used Ovid, \u2018Metamorposes\u2019, Book XII, lines 39-40, Norton Critical Edition, translated by Charles Martin, W.W. Norton & Co.   Artemis, a Greek Goddess who Agamemnon had angered, demanded a sacrifice from him before she would allow the fleet to sail to Troy.   . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

[7]<\/a> Inspired by Aeschylus, \u2018Agamemnon\u2019, lines 185 \u2013 256, Penguin Classics, Robert Fagles\u2019 translation,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[8]<\/a> Ezekiel 24: 16,  NRSV<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[9]<\/a> Ezekiel 24: 17, NRSV<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[10]<\/a> Psalm 24: 8, NRSV<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[11]<\/a> Ezekiel 24: 18, NRSV<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[12]<\/a> Inspired by Homer\u2019s \u2018Iliad\u2019, Robert Fitzgerald\u2019s translation, The World\u2019s Classics<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[13]<\/a> John 19:30, NRSV<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[14]<\/a> Of Argos, a city in Greece<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I Last night I dreamed that I returned to Delphi.  [1] [2] The untamed woods with gnarled green branches thrusting Skyward from dark trunks, those ancient groves Nestling on the slopes of Mount Parnassus. The marble portico of the temple of  [3] Apollo, the colonnade dappled with a Chiaroscuro of light and shade Where we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-classical-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iandavidwallpoet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iandavidwallpoet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iandavidwallpoet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iandavidwallpoet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iandavidwallpoet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1450"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/iandavidwallpoet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1474,"href":"https:\/\/iandavidwallpoet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1450\/revisions\/1474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iandavidwallpoet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iandavidwallpoet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iandavidwallpoet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}