Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ALCESTIS: TO ALCESTIS, by EURIPIDES


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ALCESTIS: TO ALCESTIS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: O daughter of pelias
Last Line: As to your own children.


O DAUGHTER of Pelias,
Hail to you in the house of Hades,
In the sunless home where you shall dwell!
Let Hades, the dark-haired God,
Let the old man, Leader of the Dead,
Who sits at the oar and helm,
Know you:
Far, far off is the best of women
Borne beyond the flood of Acheron
In the two-oared boat!

Often shall the Muses' servants
Sing of you to the seven-toned
Lyre-shell of the mountain-tortoise,
And praise you with mourning songs at Sparta
When the circling season
Brings back the month Carneius
Under the nightlong upraised moon
And in bright glad Athens.
Such a theme do you leave by your death
For the music of singers!

Ah! That I had the power
To bring you back to the light
From the dark halls of Hades,
And from the waves of Cocytus
With the oar of the river of hell!
O, you only,
O dearest of women,
You only dared give your life
For the life of your lord in Hades!
Light rest the earth above you,
O woman.
If your lord choose another bridal-bed
He shall be hateful to me
As to your own children.





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