Page 26 - GALIET ABSENCE AND Presence's Loom: Helen and Penelope IV

flourishing olive tree endures. Its growing strength 3⁄4 in verdant courtyard, and phusis burst 3⁄4 and never to be shifted by mortal strength, symbolizes the arboreal roots of their steadfast, evergreen love, whose blossoms, and connubial beauty dwell beyond Paris and Helen’s lusty chamber filled with Aphrodite. Indeed, Penelope’s fine threads unwoven, mirror the living roots she will not renounce, such is her endless devotion to “her dear husband’s bed.”36 What Odysseus lovingly shapes, Penelope lovingly preserves, for what is to carve, but to weave the beauties of ivory, silver and gold and close-set stones,37 and what are these, but enduring emblems and symbols of preciousness, purity, prosperity and wealth. How their love dwells beneath the living presence of Penelope’s regal loom, and the sacred olive tree, Athena’s tree, long-lived, drought-resistant, symbol of prosperity and munificence38 in whose Odyssean, artful hands it symbolizes their enduring wedded bliss, born from nature’s bosom, ever sprouting heavenward.
Natural, blossoming sign of their steadfast, idyllic love, what bountiful garden lovingly carved to form and frame reality, not as a mirage, or Lethe, but as
36 Ody., 19.503-530. 396.
37 Athena was worshipped in the Acropolis. Her temple was the Parthenon (built 447-438 bc) where her lofty, gold and silver statue was worshipped.
38Athena also protects the community. She presides over women’s work of spinning and weaving, but also over men’s skills, such as carpentry, metalworking, and pottery making. She is the incarnation of metis. She is also the friend and adviser of Odysseus. She competed with Poseidon to become Athens’ patron during Cecrops’ reign. While Poseidon creates a sea well on the Acropolis, Athena plants an olive tree. As a result, she becomes Athens patron, for her gift was the most beneficial. March, Jenny. Dictionary of Classical Mythology. UK: Cassell, 1998. 77- 78.
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