Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PYTHIAN ODES: 1. THE POWER OF MUSIC, by PINDAR


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PYTHIAN ODES: 1. THE POWER OF MUSIC, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: O lyre of gold, apollo's
Last Line: Goads him.
Subject(s): Music & Musicians


OLYRE of gold, Apollo's
Treasure, shared with the violet-wreathed Muses,
The light foot hears you, and the brightness begins:
Your notes compel the singer
When to lead out the dance
The prelude is sounded on your trembling strings.
You quench the warrior Thunderbolt's everlasting flame:
On God's sceptre the Eagle sleeps,
Drooping his swift wings on either side,

The King of Birds.
You have poured a cloud on his beak and head, and darkened his face:
His eyelids are shut with a sweet seal.
He sleeps, his lithe back heaves:
Your quivering song has conquered him.
Even Ares the violent
Leaving aside his harsh and pointed spears
Comforts his heart in drowsiness.
Your shafts enchant the souls even of the Gods
Through the wisdom of Lato's son and the deep-bosomed Muses.

And things that God loves not
Hear the voice of the maids of Pieria: they shudder
On earth and in the furious sea.
And He is afraid who lies in the horrors of Hell,
God's enemy,
Typhos the hundred-headed,
Nursed once in the famed Cilician Cave.
But now above Kyme the foam-fronting heights,
And the land of Sicily, lie
Heavily on his shaggy chest.
The Pillar of Heaven holds him fast,
White Etna, which all year round
Suckles its biting snows.

Pure founts of unapproachable fire
Belch from its depths.
In the day-time its rivers
Pour forth a glowing stream of smoke:
But in the darkness red flame rolls
And into the deep level sea throws the rocks roaring.
And that huge Worm
Spouts dreadful fountains of flame, --
A marvel and wonder to see it, a marvel even to hear from those who are there,
What a monster is held down
Under Etna's dark-leaved peaks, and under the plain.
The bed he lies on
Driving furrows up and down his back
Goads him.





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