A long while she sat in silence…numbing wonder
filled her heart as her eyes explored his face.
One moment he seemed…Odysseus, to the life –
the next, no, he was not the man she knew,
a huddled mass of rags was all she saw.
– Homer
The Odyssey, Book 23, lines 106-110. When Penelope looks at Odysseus-the-beggar, he seems for a moment to be her husband. But then the next he is unrecognizable to her. With her heart and thoughts in turmoil, Penelope wants to believe that the man facing her is her husband. But she doesn’t seem to be able to dare to.