REFLECTIONS AT THE STERN

Not far from Naples lies the Cape of Pali­nuro. There, sometimes, the ele­ments can be rough, even if the Tyrr­heni­an Sea is tranquil. Whi­le the lightbeacon on the coast cuts into the darkness regularly for a split se­cond, helmsman Palinurus keeps watch on the bridge of a scour­ing galley. Behind him lies Carthago, where departure had lead to trea­chery and death of the so­vereign. In front lies Lati­um, where soon the model of all usurp­tion that history would know would be built. Treachery in Africa for the sake of the holy mission in Europe, divinely presented to admiral Aeneas. Fire was im­minent. But now, on the waters, there was still time to reflect. On the bridge, the bows, by the mast, in the hold and at the stern by the helm, wherever on the ship he might be, he brooded and found in the cor­ridors of his mind the inevitabili­ty of his desertion. Palinu­rus left ship...

(Ole Bouman – in a review of ‘Palinuro’, De Groene Amsterdammer, 1989)