Poetry and Medicine: Moonnight Considers Argos

This month I bring you another healing poem by Carolyn L. Tipton, PhD, originally appearing in her collection of poetry, The Poet of Poet Laval (2019), published by Salmon Poetry of County Clare, Ireland. A resident of Berkeley, California, Tipton has translated two books of poems by Spanish poet Rafael Alberti: the first, To Painting, won the National Translation Award; the second, Returnings: Poems of Love and Distance, won the Cliff Becker Translation Prize. She has been awarded fellowships from both the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts. She earned a PhD in Comparative Literature from UC Berkeley, where she has taught for many years in the Fall Program for Freshmen. She also taught at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and San Francisco State University. In the poem below, the poet’s dog, Moonnight, reflects upon the fate of Argos, the beloved dog of legendary Greek hero Odysseus. Apparently familiar with the events of Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey, perhaps by having heard it read aloud, Moonnight downplays the trials—the monsters and revengeful deities—that plague Odysseus on his return home to Ithaca after the Trojan War; rather, it was Argos who suffered the greatest. Odysseus may have “had it hard,” but it was his dog “who got the short end of the stick”: in Moonnight’s canine heart, Argos’ trial was much harder than that of Odysseus; Odysseus may have faced monsters, but Argos faithfully, hopefully waited through his entire lifetime for Odysseus to come home. Argos is mentioned only once in The Odyssey, but his inclusion places Homer’s c. 8^th c. BCE epic in a long cross-cultural history of dogs as healers, long revered for their loyalty, affection, and unconditional love. According to a recent book by Leslie E. Korn, the dog was the sacred emblem of healing for Gula, the Mesopotamian goddess of medicine, and for Marduk, the Babylonian god of compassion, healing and regeneration. Aesculapius, the Greek god of healing, was guarded by a dog as a child and is pictured with a dog by his side. The Egyptian dog-god, Anubis, led people to the afterlife. In their roles as modern-day healers–therapy dogs, service dogs, companion dogs— dogs play a vital role in integrative medicine. In the brief passage in The Odyssey that describes Argos, Homer tells us that Odysseus returns home disguised as a beggar in order to assess the state of his neglected kingdom and to maintain an element of surprise, knowing that a battle with the suitors besieging his wife is pending. His life depends on no one recognizing him, but one does: his dog. The two recognize each other in the same second. Now old and frail and flea-ridden, Argos thumps his tail, drops his ears, but he is too weak to drag himself to his master. Odysseus dare not pet Argos for fear of giving himself away, especially to his friend Eumaios. When Eumaios walks away, Odysseus has a moment finally to pet Argos, and the reader can imagine him reaching out his hand, but “death and darkness in that instant closed / the eyes of Argos, who had seen his master, / Odysseus, after twenty years.” In commenting on the inspiration for her poem, Tipton has stated, “There are bloodshed and heroics in the scenes that follow, but it is all counterbalanced by this, one of the most tender and touching scenes in all of literature.” In immersing the reader in that brief scene, Homer allows us to feel deeply and identify with the twenty years of Argos’ commitment and hope, a cathartic release. It is the healing power of Argos’ loyalty in life and death that Tipton celebrates in the poem below. The editorial assistance of Cathy Chance Harvey, PhD, of Tylertown, in the preparation of this poem is gratefully acknowledged. Physicians are invited to submit poems for publication in the Journal either by email at drluciuslampton@gmail.com or regular mail to the Journal, attention: Dr. Lampton.—Ed.