Why does Ulysses send the crow to Ithaca and what does the crow's poem mean?''Briefly, your son is grieving, your wife is weaving, and your guests are not leaving.

He wants to find out what has happened at his home while he has been gone for many years. The poem:

"Your son is grieving" = Telemachus is sad because he fears his father has died while fighting in the Trojan War

"Your wife is weaving" = Penelope has been tricking the suitors who have invaded her home while her husband has been gone and are demanding she marry one of them. She says she will marry one of them when she finished weaving a burial shroud for her father-in-law. So she weaves all day and then secretly "unweaves" her work at night.

"Your guests are not leaving" = the suitors have taken up residence in Odysseus' home and will not leave. They are demanding that his wife choose one of them to be her new husband because they assume Odysseus is dead.