Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, BACCHAE: BACCHANAL, by EURIPIDES


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BACCHAE: BACCHANAL, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: O for cyprus / island of aphrodite!
Last Line: Thy servants go.


O FOR Cyprus,
island of Aphrodite!
There go the Loves
in fields familiar;
they who beguile
man's heart awhile
on his road to death.

O for Paphos,
thick with fruits
secretly watered
by far-off Nile!
Streaming from hundred mouths
he comes, a stranger,
stolen under the sea --
Nile, whom no rain feeds.

O for Pieria,
home of Muses!
There, to the very heart
of beauty,
a holy place
on slant Olympus,
there, there
lead me, Bromios,
lead me, O swift runner,
Spirit attended
by cries ecstatic
ringing behind thee.

There are the Graces,
soul's desire is there;
there, in joy of worship,
with god's good will
thy servants go.





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