'SHE shall attend the gods and be Blessed in her felicity. 'Thy daughters all are wedded, three To Zeus, the lord of everything, And three are wedded to the King Poseidon, ruler of the sea, And two is Phoebus honouring. 'One is the bride of Maia's son, Good Hermes. So did Love design With Aphrodite, when they won The gods to secret union In thy house with thy daughters nine. 'In time shall they a progeny Of demigods and heroes breed, And with a multitudinous seed Shall keep unending youth -- To me The oracular tripod spoke its rede. 'This sacred privilege is mine. My fifty brothers share it not, For all their strength. It is my lot To tell of mysteries divine -- I, true Akraiphen -- at the shrine. 'The son of Lato first had planned That Euonymus should tell The tripod's mystic oracle. But Hyrieus cast him from the land. To Hyrieus next the task befell, 'Son of Poseidon. Time passed by. Orion came, whose son am I, And took his own back lawfully. Now he is dwelling in the sky, And this high duty fell to me. 'Therefore I tell you what I find In oracles to help mankind. Yield, friend, to the Immortals' need And putting hatred from your mind Find kinsmen born of heavenly breed.' So spake the prophet full of grace. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE NIGHTINGALE AND THE GLOW-WORM by WILLIAM COWPER A CHRISTMAS HYMN (OLD STYLE: 1837) by ALFRED DOMETT HYMN OF TRUST by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES WHEN THE COWS COME HOME by AGNES E. MITCHELL A HOLIDAY by LIZETTE WOODWORTH REESE SING-SONG; A NURSERY RHYME BOOK: 20 by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI |