I offer a reading of the Diapeira episode based on the semantics and thematics of akhos. My findings resolve a crux at 2.171, where Homer identifies akhos as the reason Odysseus is not launching his ship. Homer clearly signposts the nature of Odysseus' akhos as grief over loss of time in Athene's subsequent speech to him, but the reference is proleptic and has consequently eluded the commentators.