 | Poems Lyrical and Dramatic |  |
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A DITHYRAMB.
“Ως Διονυσοι' ανακτος καλον εξαρξαι μελος
Οιδα διθυραμβον οινω συγκεραυνωθεις φρενας.”
—Archilocus, Fragments, 38 Liebel.
Οιδα διθυραμβον οινω συγκεραυνωθεις φρενας.”
—Archilocus, Fragments, 38 Liebel.
Let us sing to the god Dionysus with thunder of wine in our head;
Let us scatter from bowl and from chalice the blood that the grape-god has shed,
With the chaplet of vine and the thyrsus, with the scream of the flute, with the lyre,
With a shaking of hair to the music and waving of fire.
Let us scatter from bowl and from chalice the blood that the grape-god has shed,
With the chaplet of vine and the thyrsus, with the scream of the flute, with the lyre,
With a shaking of hair to the music and waving of fire.
From the throng of the naked Mænads, with throbbing of rhythmical feet,
Now we sever around the altar, and now in a frenzy meet,
As we tangle again and unravel the tangled dance till the dawn,
Clad with the skin of the leopard, and shod with the fawn.
Now we sever around the altar, and now in a frenzy meet,
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Clad with the skin of the leopard, and shod with the fawn.
Lo Zeus to the daughter of Cadmus descended with storm in his eyes,
The zone cast off, and the saffron robe, and the frantic sighs,
The treacherous wiles of a goddess, presumptuous daughter of earth,
The snowy limbs scalded by thunder, the premature birth;
The zone cast off, and the saffron robe, and the frantic sighs,
The treacherous wiles of a goddess, presumptuous daughter of earth,
The snowy limbs scalded by thunder, the premature birth;
The second abode in a marvellous womb, the miraculous throes,
The second issuing forth and the thrill of familiar woes;
The nurture of nymphs on Mount Nysa, the burning of jealous scars,
The babe now changed to a youth, and the maidens to stars!
The second issuing forth and the thrill of familiar woes;
The nurture of nymphs on Mount Nysa, the burning of jealous scars,
The babe now changed to a youth, and the maidens to stars!
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But Heré swoops from the cloud, from Olympus, revenge in her wings;
He knows in his veins the madness, and burns with ineffable stings;
He scatters the dust of deserts, he drinks of the mountain wind
By the monsters of Egypt's rivers, the rubies of Ind.
He knows in his veins the madness, and burns with ineffable stings;
He scatters the dust of deserts, he drinks of the mountain wind
By the monsters of Egypt's rivers, the rubies of Ind.
He storms at the gate of Hell; he severs the throng of the shades,
He wets his feet with the Styx, through the meadow of asphodel wades;
He looks upon Persephatta, and laughs, and, the death-bonds riven,
Snatches his mother from Hades and sets her in Heaven.
He wets his feet with the Styx, through the meadow of asphodel wades;
He looks upon Persephatta, and laughs, and, the death-bonds riven,
Snatches his mother from Hades and sets her in Heaven.
On the ridges of high Cithæron the shrill of the box-wood flute,
The tramping of hornèd satyrs with many a hornèd foot;
The woes of the rebel Pentheus, the mangled mistaken shape,
And the spilling of other blood than the blood of the grape!
The tramping of hornèd satyrs with many a hornèd foot;
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And the spilling of other blood than the blood of the grape!
Who sails on the deep for Naxos, a young god rosy with wine?
But is it a ship or a vineyard? equipped with the flax or the vine?
Amid lashing of fiery serpents, and roaring of lions, and scream
Of invisible flutes it is vanished, and gone like a dream.
But is it a ship or a vineyard? equipped with the flax or the vine?
Amid lashing of fiery serpents, and roaring of lions, and scream
Of invisible flutes it is vanished, and gone like a dream.
And the mariners toss like dolphins over the pitching wave,
Who bargain'd for gold, Dionysus, to sell thee, a god, for a slave;
And thou with foot in the shells art soothing the desolate dove
Who pines for a fading of sails and the fading of love.
Who bargain'd for gold, Dionysus, to sell thee, a god, for a slave;
And thou with foot in the shells art soothing the desolate dove
Who pines for a fading of sails and the fading of love.
| Poems Lyrical and Dramatic | |