Three times I rushed toward her, desperate to hold her, three times she fluttered through my fingers, sifting away like a shadow

And I, my mind in turmoil, how I longed
to embrace my mother’s spirit, dead as she was!
Three times I rushed toward her, desperate to hold her,
three times she fluttered through my fingers, sifting away
like a shadow, dissolving like a dream, and each time
the grief cut to the heart, sharper, yes, and I,
I cried out to her, words winging into the darkness.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 11, lines 233-239. Odysseus laments that he cannot embrace the ghost of his mother. He cries out in desperation as he tries to hold her, but she just slips through his fingers. The emotional intensity of the scene is conveyed through the use of two vivid similes – "sifting away like a shadow, dissolving like a dream" – and a metaphor – "words winging into the darkness."

Homer Quotes