Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PROCESSIONAL FOR DEMETRIUS POLIORCETES, by HERMOCLES


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PROCESSIONAL FOR DEMETRIUS POLIORCETES, by                    
First Line: See how the mightiest gods, and best-beloved
Last Line: Or to stone will charm him.
Variant Title(s): Demeterius Enters Athens
Subject(s): Athens, Greece; Heroism; Parades; Heroes; Heroines


SEE how the mightiest gods, and best-beloved,
Towards our town are winging!
For lo! Demeter and Demetrius
This glad day is bringing!
She to perform her Daughter's solemn rites;
Mystic pomps attend her:
He, joyous as a god should be, and blithe,
Come with laughing splendour.
Show forth your triumph! Friends all, troop around:
Let him shine above you!
Be you the stars to circle him with love;
He's the sun to love you.
Hail, offspring of Poseidon, powerful god,
Child of Aphrodite!
The other deities keep far from earth;
Have no ears, though mighty;
They are not, or they will not hear us wail:
Thee our eye beholdeth;
Not wood, not stone, but living, breathing, real,
Thee our prayer enfoldeth.
First give us peace! Give, dearest, for Thou canst;
Thou art Lord and Master!
The Sphinx, who not on Thebes, but on all Greece
Swoops to gloat and pasture;
The AEtolian, he who sits upon his rock,
Like that old disaster;
He feeds upon our flesh and blood, and we
Can no longer labour;
For it was ever thus the AEtolian thief
Preyed upon his neighbour;
Him punish Thou, or if not Thou, then send
OEdipus to harm him,
Who'll cast this Sphinx down from his cliff of pride
Or to stone will charm him.





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