.
Anchises fleeing Troy on the back of Aeneas, his son by Aphrodite: Attic Red Figure ceramic mixing bowl (calyx krater) with scenes from the fall of Troy, Early Classical Period, about 470–460 B.C., by Altamura Painter, found at Iliupersis: image by Sebastià Giralt, 5 October 2008 (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
Anchises' navel, dripping of the sea, --
The hands Erasmus dipped in gleaming tides,
Gathered the voltage of blown blood and vine;
Delve upward for the new and scattered wine,
O brother-thief of time, that we recall.
Laugh out the meager penance of their days
Who dare not share with us the breath released,
The substance drilled and spent beyond repair
For golden, or the shadow of gold hair.
Distinctly praise the years, whose volatile
Blamed bleeding hands extend and thresh the height
The imagination spans beyond despair,
Outpacing bargain, vocable and prayer.
Hart Crane (1899-1932): from For the Marriage of Faustus and Helen (Part III), in White Buildings, 1926
No comments:
Post a Comment