"What I'm trying to say is that I went looking for Virginia Dare,
and the books of my childhood opened in my memory.
I'm not sure exactly why,
but I returned to an ancient story of being away from home
and finally returning.

What I found initially was questions, not clear answers.
As if I stood beside the clear cold waters of the Castalian Spring
in the ravine below the Oracle of Delphi.
Questions about control.
She quoted from memory from The Odyssey,
the words of the Phaiacians about their ships:
'Our ships have no steering gear like other ships
but they understand of themselves
the thoughts and intentions of the seamen.'"

"Phaia-cia", (she broke the word into syllables)
"What I found was a disturbing trail of the misuse
of the magical meaning of names from ancient history,
a distortion of the prehistoric concept
of the relationship between names and fate."

___________