Project: A new era

12 CALYPSO’S CAVE

Ogygia or Aeaea, what difference does it make?

Whatever isle it be,
There is no way to flee;
You still remain encaged
Inside that golden cavern,
A tabletop of sand
That seems a field in flower.
Entangled in the tendrils
Of that obscene desire,
You caressed the sea,
Yet felt it far away;
And day by day you withered,
Consumed by inward fire,
Within the whirl of senses,
Forever at its centre.
But now you sail away, the dolphins at your side;
No salt, no weight of years is flooding from your eyes.
The sailcloth snaps in wind; new passages arise,
And sings a gentle song in endless sharp replies.
The goddess when she falls in love
Will listen to no reason;
It is not you she truly wants,
She craves complete devotion.
She even promised heaven,
Youth lasting without measure,
And her immortal marriage bed,
A prison dressed as pleasure.
It seemed a peaceful harbour,
A shelter safe and warm,
Where you could rest serenely
After a savage storm;
You never knew the yoke
Had already been wrought,
To bind you to a collar
Of glittering gold.
But now you sail away, the dolphins at your side;
No salt, no weight of years is flooding from your eyes.
The sailcloth snaps in wind; new passages arise,
And sings a gentle song in endless sharp replies.
It took one final effort, perhaps a sign from heaven,
To tear those bars of tears and gold away,
And rend the veil.
Exhausted, still you hold the helm
Upon the galley’s deck,
Steering straight ahead of you,
Towards a new era.
But now you sail away, the dolphins at your side;
No salt, no weight of years is flooding from your eyes.
The sailcloth snaps in wind; new passages arise,
And sings a gentle song in endless sharp replies.

Ogygia or Aeaea, Calypso or Circe: what difference does it make in the end? When does love cease to be a harbour and become captivity?

Taking its point of departure from Odysseus’ sojourn in Calypso’s cave, as narrated in the Odyssey, Calypso’s Cave tells of a necessary escape: flight from a toxic love—seductive, enveloping, capable of presenting itself as salvation while slowly constructing its cage. A golden cavern, a meadow in flower, an immortal bed: everything appears to offer shelter, promise and enchantment. Yet behind the beauty lies the yoke. Behind the devotion demanded, the loss of self.

Odysseus thus becomes a profoundly contemporary figure. No longer merely the hero longing to return home, but a man who must recover the strength to leave a place that holds him, comforts him and consumes him at the same time. The goddess who loves does not set him free: she demands. She does not seek the other person: she seeks adoration. And what appeared to be a gift—peace, pleasure, even eternity—reveals itself as a more refined form of bondage.

At the heart of the musical project A New Era, this song transforms myth into an intimate and universal key to experience. It recounts the moment when we understand that remaining does not mean loving more deeply, but slowly disappearing. And that leaving, even exhausted, even wounded, may be the only possible act through which we can return to life.

With its intense singer-songwriter spirit, Calypso’s Cave is a song of liberation. The sail snapping in the wind, the dolphins, the sea recovered, the helm held fast: every image accompanies the passage from the gilded prison to the open course.

The time of enchantment is over. Now is the time to rend the veil, leave behind the bars of tears and gold, and turn one’s gaze at last towards a new era.