HOMERIC HYMN: THE RAPE OF PERSEPHONE by ANONYMOUS

OF great Demeter here begins my lay,
The bright-haired goddess: and in one accord
I sing her light-foot daughter, stolen away
From rich Demeter of the golden sword;
For Zeus the thunderer, lord of wide survey,
To Aidoneus yielding, gave his word
That he might take her, from her playmates torn,
Maidens deep-bosomed to old Ocean born.

She gathered flowers along a grassy green,
The rose, the saffron, and the violet fair,
Or flag, or hyacinth. There too was seen
Narcissus, that the Earth was made to bear
By will of Zeus, who set for that young queen
Fresh as the opening buds, a fatal snare,
With kindly thought to make that god's delight
Who houses many in the halls of Night.

Alike to mortal and immortal eyes
It rose a marvel. From one root had birth
A hundred blossoming crowns, that took the skies
With fragrance, and they laughed, and all the earth
Laughed, and the salty sea. Upon that prize
She gazed in wonder, then both hands put forth
And bent towards it, with desire to take
The lovely plaything for its beauty's sake.

But spacious earth, the path of many feet,
Yawned, and a chasm cleft all the Nysian plain;
And he, the Ready Host, whom mortals greet
As son by Kronos gotten, he, whose reign
Is many-titled, from his dark retreat
Leapt with the coursers of immortal strain
And seized her, loth to go; then wheeled about
His golden chariot, while her cry rang out

Bidding her father, son of Kronos, hear,
Of gods the highest and most excellent.
But deaf were mortal and immortal ear;
And not the wood-nymphs caught her sharp lament,
That dwelt in berried olives shimmering near.

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