Odyssey

Verse 1

They say I was a hero when the fires of Troy went black.

I walked out of that city with the war across my back.

The cheers felt thin and hollow as the coastlines fell away.

I carried more than plunder in the silence of that day.

Verse 2

The men all called me captain like I knew which way was true.

The gods kept shifting weather just to see what I would do.

The sailcloth snapped like anger and the mast groaned like a lie.

I told them we were going home, though my heart stared at the sky.

Pre Chorus 1

If the sea can taste your secrets, can you ever just sail through.

If the past keeps rising with you, is it home you head toward, or you.

Chorus

Home was calling through the distance like a half remembered flash.

But the man I kept becoming dragged behind me like a lash.

I met my own reflection in each creature made to clash.

I sailed through every nightmare with the hope I still could last.

Verse 3

The island of the lotus wrapped my crew in sugared sleep.

They smiled like tired children who forgot how grief runs deep.

I almost let the sweetness wash the battle from my chest.

But something whispered softly that forgetting is not rest.

Verse 4

The Cyclops in his cavern ate my shouting men like bread.

His single eye was fury that I never had to shed.

I told him I was No one as I carved my way outside.

His blind hand scraped the doorway like the rage I would not cry.

Verse 5

We drifted past the sirens while their voices split the sky.

They sang about the versions of the man I did not try.

They promised me a harbor where my longing could go numb.

I tied myself to listening so I would not come undone.

Pre Chorus 2

If the song names every shadow, do you follow or resist.

If you hear your secret longing, do you steer away or twist.

Chorus

Home was calling through the distance like a half remembered flash.

But the man I kept becoming dragged behind me like a lash.

I met my own reflection in each creature made to clash.

I sailed through every nightmare with the hope I still could last.

Verse 6

Through Circe’s hall of wonders where my men turned into swine.

I saw my own compulsion in her cup that tasted fine.

She offered me a refuge where the weariness could melt.

I stayed a year in comfort, though my absence still was felt.

Verse 7

At last she named the journey and the shadows still ahead.

She warned me, you must face the dead to speak with what you dread.

So down to Hades’ doorway with a lamb knife in my hand.

I bargained with the darkness just to hear my own command.

Verse 8

The ghosts came like a shoreline made of faces I had known.

They told me all my cleverness could not reclaim what was gone.

My mother’s voice was quiet when she asked what I had learned.

I could not name an answer that was not a bridge I burned.

Pre Chorus 3

If the dead recount your story, do you like the man they trace.

If your wisdom comes from mourning, can you ever leave that place.

Chorus

Home was calling through the distance like a half remembered flash.

But the man I kept becoming dragged behind me like a lash.

I met my own reflection in each creature made to clash.

I sailed through every nightmare with the hope I still could last.

Verse 9

Between the twin disasters, Scylla snapping from the height.

Charybdis pulling downward with her thousand throats of night.

I chose the lesser slaughter, watched my screaming sailors fall.

I learned that being captain sometimes means you damn them all.

Verse 10

On sun struck fields of cattle that we swore we would not touch.

Hunger bent our promises till oath and craving clashed too much.

I woke to thunder breaking as the ship went down in foam.

The sea erased my choices while the storm hissed, go on, roam.

Pre Chorus 4

If your judgment kills the loyal, are you leader or a fraud.

If the law you swore keeps breaking, is it you, or is it god.

Chorus

Home was calling through the distance like a half remembered flash.

But the man I kept becoming dragged behind me like a lash.

I met my own reflection in each creature made to clash.

I sailed through every nightmare with the hope I still could last.

Verse 11

With Calypso on her island wrapped in everlasting blue.

She offered me forever where the waves would not undo.

Her kindness felt like shackles, her embrace a gentle chain.

I loved the way she held me, but I loved the leaving pain.

Verse 12

At last the gods grew weary of my circling in their seas.

They let my broken timbers wash on Ithaca’s worn knees.

I stood before my homeland as a stranger dripped in scars.

I wondered if the boy who left still lived beneath those stars.

Pre Chorus 5

If you finally reach your doorstep, are you still the one they knew.

If the road remade your nature, is that loss or is that true.

Chorus

Home was calling through the distance like a half remembered flash.

But the man I kept becoming dragged behind me like a lash.

I met my own reflection in each creature made to clash.

I sailed through every nightmare with the hope I still could last.

Verse 13

I walked into the courtyard where the suitors drained my wine.

They laughed like all my history was just a wasted line.

I bent the bow that bowed to me and cut them from their schemes.

Then lay beside my weary wife, still haunted by my dreams.

Bridge

Tell me, what is home if not the place that sees your scars.

Tell me, what is war if not a storm that follows far.

Tell me, what is self if every trial pulls it apart.

Tell me, can I hold my oar and still unclench my heart.

Chorus (Extended)

Home was calling through the distance like a half remembered flash.

But the man I kept becoming dragged behind me like a lash.

I met my own reflection in each creature made to clash.

I sailed through every nightmare with the hope I still could last.

So tell me, what is left of me when all the miles have passed.

Outro

Now when younger sailors ask me how to make it through the foam.

I tell them every monster is a path that points you home.

You do not beat the ocean by pretending you are stone.

You learn to face the man you are, and bring that stranger home.