Calypso’s Island, Departure of Ulysses (Farewell to Calypso), Samuel Palmer, 1848–49 — The Whitworth, University of Manchester.

He was offered immortality. He wanted the smoke of his own roof.

They kept him seven years on the island. The woman was a goddess and gave him what she had, which was everything — no death, no age, herself. He said no. He sat on the beach and looked at the water where his home was not.

When they made her let him go, she didn’t fight it. She handed him the wood, helped him build the raft, told him the sea wasn’t finished. Then she stood on the rocks and raised her hand, and he pushed out toward the sun and didn’t look back.

Do you think she is waving him on or calling him back?