Thursday, August 25, 2011

A Horse From A Dream










For peace we cry O Artemis the grandmother of lions,
Nurse of the hedgehogs and fawns, white-breasted dawn!
To the fading stars we sing, we sing our Agido
The doe-slight tender cousin of Hagesikbora the tall,
She is so like the sun that when she lifts her rosy arms, 
Which is Helios, which is Agido?  But Hagesikbora
Among us is like a stallion among his mares,
The silken quiver of his flanks rounding their eyes,
A horse from a dream and not of this world.









III (Excerpt) Alkman: A Hymn to Artemis of the Strict Observance.

Guy Davenport translation from 7 Greeks. New York, New Directions, 1995. 

Copy of a work by Leochares (4th century BC): Artemis with a hind, better known as "Diana of Versailles". Marble, Roman artwork, Imperial Era (1st-2nd centuries CE). Found in Italy.  Given by Pope Paul IV to Henry II of France. The Louvre, Paris.

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