Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

OLYMPIAN ODES: 1. PELOPS by PINDAR

First Line: WHEN HE CAME TO THE SWEET FLOWER OF HIS GROWTH
Last Line: WHERE STRANGERS COME PAST NUMBER.
WHEN he came to the sweet flower of his growth
And down covered his darkening chin,
He lifted his thoughts to a bridal awaiting him,

To have far-famed Hippodameia
From her Pisan father.
He went down beside the grey sea
In the darkness alone,
And cried to the loud-bellowing Lord of the Trident.
And the God was with him
Close beside his feet: and Pelops said:
'If the dear love you had of me, Poseidon,
Can turn, I pray, to good,
Keep fast now the brazen spear of Oinomaos,
And on the swiftest chariots carry me
To Elis, and bring me to victory;
For he has slain thirteen men that wooed her,
And puts back the bridal day

Of his daughter. The danger is great,
And calls not the coward: but of us who must die,
Why should a man sit in darkness
And cherish to no end
An old age without a name,
Letting go all lovely things?
For me this ordeal waits: and you
Give me the issue I desire.'
So he spoke, and the prayer he made was not unanswered.
The God glorified him, and gave him a chariot of gold,
And wing'd horses that never tired.

So he brought down the strength of Oinomaos,
And the maiden to share his bed.
She bore him princes,
Six sons eager in nobleness.
And now, by the ford of Alpheios,
He is drenched with the glorious blood-offerings,
With a busy tomb beside that altar
Where strangers come past number.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net