Ozymandias

It is almost 1am and I have been reading poetry for the past three hours. I eventually ended up regressing through history and making it back to the Greeks. Pulling out my  Edith Hamilton texts to research something on Homer, I came across a reference to the Orphic Hymns. There was a time in my life when I joked around about my religion being Orphic. My memory of these works had faded and I have forgotten some of the things I learned.


"To Thanatos, Fumigation from Manna.

 Hear me, O Death, whose empire unconfin'd
 extends to mortal tribes of ev'ry kind.
 On thee, the portion of our time depends,
whose absence lengthens life, whose presence ends.

 Thy sleep perpetual bursts the vivid folds
 by which the soul, attracting body holds :
 common to all, of ev'ry sex and age,
 for nought escapes thy all-destructive rage.

 Not youth itself thy clemency can gain,
 vigorous and strong, by thee untimely slain.
 In thee the end of nature’s works is known,
 in thee all judgment is absolved alone.
 No suppliant arts thy dreadful rage control,
 no vows revoke the purpose of thy soul.
 O blessed power, regard my ardent prayer,
 and human life to age abundant spare"

                                                         - Hymns to Orpheus, Trans: Thomas Taylor.

-MG

p.s - Incident report still coming.