Odyssey Without an Illiad

Ulysses’ Homeric Odyssey only lasted twenty years,

ten violent years at war, ten exhausting years to get home,

many a Herculean task had to be accomplished,

many sirens called from the rocky shores, many a Medusa and Hydra raised its ugly head,

(why are watery monsters usually females?)

your labors were only in their twelfth year,

your path out the rez was arduous, a grueling journey with lots of “gap years,”

you became heavy with child down south, it was not in your degree plan,

you went back home to your parents, but neither

you nor your child were ever a burden, then

your father’s heart attack and your mother’s cancer,

you got a degree up north, but it was the degree down south you wanted to finish,

you saw a flicker of light, a beacon of hope, on the far horizon,

your one last required summer course,

your golden fleece a paid internship at a prestigious place on the east coast in the fall,

your parents would take care of your daughter and come to visit you,

your daughter’s father died suddenly, a mother has to be with her daughter, but

you still made to your internship (your brother and daughter came to visit instead),

you took that one required summer course the following spring,

your twelve years became your lucky thirteen, the Fates have decided,

you never made excuses or gave up, that’s not who you are,

your family had little good or silver to give you

your parent’s love was your greatest wealth,

we teachers we forget most of our former students,

we teachers we do not even know most of their students while we teach them, but

your odyssey has become legendary,

you never saw a battlefield but you are still the warrior,

your praises we will sing, like Homer

you are modest: we apologize for embarrassing you,

what a privilege it has been for us your teachers,

your next journey begins sooner than you can imagine, and

yes, like the tribal elders, we will always be with you and

you with us.