Lauro de Bosis (1901-1931): from "Icaro", The Third Act

            MINOS

Daughter!


            PHAEDRA

... if the daughter of the Master of the Sea has any right to
love, father, my blood and his are a single flame of love: dost
thou wish death for Phaedra also?  He is my betrothed.


            MINOS

Daughter, what dost thou say?  Thou, to love a man without
a crown?


            ICARUS

Lord of the Seas, thy crown reigns over the waters but my 

royal laurels have risen to the sky!

            PHAEDRA

The love of Phaedra is equal to a crown.


            DAEDALUS

King of the Islands, the sons of free Athens are all equal,
both citizens and kings.  With us Genius is the only crown.


            THE LEADER

King Minos, yield: in him all acknowledge a king.  Re-
member, the race of poets is sacred and song is a wondrous
realm.





Lauro de Bosis, "Icaro"

Silver Olympic Medal
Arts, Dramatic Works
Amsterdam 1928

Oxford University Press
London:Humphrey Milford 1933
Translation Ruth Draper
Icaro

Art Competitions at The Olympic Games

W. S. Merwin (1927- ) : "By the Avenue"

Through the trees and across the river

with its surface the color of steel

on a rainy morning late in spring

the splintered skyline of the city

glitters in a silence we all know

but cannot touch or reach for with words

and I am the only one who can

remember now over there among

the young leaves brighter than the daylight

another light through the tall windows 

a sunbeam sloping like a staircase 

and from beyond it my father's voice

telling about a mote in an eye

that was like a mote in a sunbeam




From "The Shadow Of Sirius"
Copper Canyon Press 2009
The Shadow of Sirius

and then

<> Photography

Beautiful Words

Lauro de Bosis (1901-1931): from "Icaro", The First Act

...

PASIPHAE

Icarus, love can do all things.

ICARUS

Mine can do nothing. It dares to look too high.

PASIPHAE
  
Look at me, poet.

ICARUS
   
Queen, thine eyes cause me to lower mine.

PASIPHAE
   
Look at me, poet.  Icarus, read in my heart.

ICARUS
  
Lady, the human heart is a dread abyss.

PASIPHAE
   
And thou fearest to look into it?

ICARUS
   
Queen, to-day a mortal unrest, relentless and obscure, op-
presses me. Let the poet first regain his calm.

PASIPHAE

What torments thee?

ICARUS
  
An eagle that has wildly beating wings but whose claws are
caught fast in the rock.

PASIPHAE
  
Thou, the hunter of eagles - now their prey? Let me disperse thy phantoms:  I know a philtre for all thy torment.



Lauro de Bosis, "Icaro"

Silver Olympic Medal
Arts, Dramatic Works
Amsterdam 1928

Oxford University Press
London:Humphrey Milford 1933
Translation Ruth Draper
Icaro

Art Competitions at The Olympic Games

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) : from "The Masque of Pandora"

                                 III

TOWER OF PROMETHEUS ON MOUNT CAUCASUS

                                  PROMOTHEUS.

I HEAR the trumpet of Alectryon

Proclaim the dawn.   The stars begin to fade,

And all the heavens are full of prophecies

And evil auguries.   Blood-red last night

I saw great Kronos rise ; the crescent moon

Sank through the mist, as if it were the scythe

His parricidal hand had flung far down

The western steeps.   O ye immortal Gods,

What evils are ye plotting and contriving ?


             
        HERMES and PANDORA at the threshold

                                  PANDORA.

I cannot cross the threshold.   An unseen

And icy hand repels me.   These blank walls 

Oppress me with their weight !



                                   PROMETHEUS.

                                                 Powerful ye are,

But not omnipotent.   Ye cannot fight 

Against Necessity.   The Fates control you,

As they do us, and so far we are equals !


                                   PANDORA.

Motionless, passionless, companionless

He sits there muttering in his beard.   His voice 

Is like a river flowing underground!



                                  HERMES.

Prometheus,  hail !



                                  PROMETHEUS.

                                                  Who calls me  ?



                                 HERMES. 

                                                                 It is I.

Dost Thou not know me ?



                                  PROMETHEUS.

                                                   By thy winged cap

And winged heels I know thee.   Thou art Hermes,

Captain of thieves !   Hast thou again been stealing 

The heifers of Admetus in the sweet   

Meadows of asphodel ?   Or Hera's girdle ?

Or the earth-shaking trident of Poseidon ?                     



                                  HERMES.

And thou, Prometheus ; say , hast thou again

Been stealing fire from Helios' chariot-wheels

To light thy furnaces ?



                           PROMETHEUS.

                                   Why comest though hither

So early in the dawn ?



                            HERMES.

                                   The Immortal Gods 

Know naught of late or early.    Zeus himself 

The omnipotent hath sent me.



                            PROMETHEUS.

                                              For what purpose ?



                            HERMES.

To bring this maiden to thee.



                                   PROMETHEUS.

                                                   I mistrust

The Gods and all their gifts.   If they have sent her

It is for no good purpose.



                           HERMES.

                                                    What disaster

Could she bring on thy house, who is a woman ?



                                   PROMETHEUS.

The Gods are not my friends, nor am I theirs.

Whatever comes from them, though in a shape

As beautiful as this, is evil only.

Who art though ?



                                 PANDORA.

            One who, though to thee unknown,

Yet knoweth thee.



                                PROMETHEUS.

    How shouldst thou know me, woman ?





The Masque of Pandora , 1875

Lovely Crowd

<>Photography