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287
DREAM: LEDA/HELEN
Ι.
from within an egg
she waited from afar
for herself to be born
-she said-
without knowing what that meant
since she was already born
and had herself given birth
first the outer shell would crack
-she said-
then into fragments
the casing would break up
and then
you would spring out, fair one
fairest out of the entire lot
just like all daughters
you would come out of the egg
to reap the same pleasures over and over
and make the same mistakes over and over
again.
ΙΙ.
you gave birth to the egg and you were it
youthful and smooth inside spring
you murmured lullabies
for yourself and for the daughter
how hard and never ending this growing
from a child to become a woman
this flight of the swan as it mourns
its previous life.
NATURE
and the children?
following spring
after the summer
like young shoots they sprout
whereas we wither
we are now low and they are high
and after the first surprise is over
of looking at our offspring from below
the sense that we’ll be able
no longer to fit it in our arms
sing a lullaby to it
deliver it unto sleep ourselves
we are filled with joy
at these young tall bodies
by our side in our home
wandering around and able to make choices
and to advise
their brimming life, youthful and adult
from now on
we will be accompanied
by the reversal of roles
and the keeping watch over infants
indifferently we glance at the strangers
sitting round a table
as barefoot in the sand
we casually allow
our talk to flow
down to the sea
Clambered onto the branch since nine in the morning, the Cicada
flies out, under my very eyes, at twelve thirty...
The discarded carapace stays, intact apart from its crack and
so steadfastly attached that the bad weather of the season just
gone, does not succeed in dislodging it. For months to come,
even during winter, a lot of old carcasses can be seen hanging on
bushes in the exact position the larva had assumed at the mo-
ment of its transformation. A leathery aspect that is reminiscent
of dry parchment, this is, indeed, one lasting memento.
PHAEDRUS [251 C] SOCRATES. AS IN THOSE WHO ARE CUTTING TEETH THERE IS AN IRRITATION AND DISCOM-
FORT IN THE GUMS, WHEN THE TEETH BEGIN TO GROW,JUST SO THE SOUL SUFFERS WHEN THE GROWTH OF
THE FEATHERS BEGINS; IT IS FEVERISH AND IS UNCOMFORTABLE AND ITCHES WHEN THEY BEGIN TO GROW.
SUMMERTIME: ELLA FITZGERALD, BILLIE HOLIDAY, LOUIS ARMSTRONG, JANIS JOPLIN: GEORGE GERSHWIN:
ONE OF THESE MORNINGS, YOU’RE GOING TO RISE UP SINGING THEN YOU’LL SPREAD YOUR WINGS AND
YOU’WILL TAKE THE SKY
ΣΑΠΦΩ 166 [Αth.2.57a] ΦΑΙΣΙ ΔΗ ΠΟΤΑ ΛΗΔΑΝ ΥΑΚΙΝΘΙΝΟN... ΩΙΟΝ ΕΥΡΗΝ ΠΕΠΥΚΑΔΜΕΝΟΝ
They
say
that
once
Leda
found
a
hyacinth
egg,
well
covered
PHAEDRUS. SOCRATES:
[245 c] Every soul is immortal. [246 a] We will liken the soul to the
composite nature of a pair of winged horses and a charioteer. [246
c] and the whole, compounded of soul and body, is called a living
being...[246 d] The natural function of the wing is to soar upwards
and carry that which is heavy up to the place where dwells the
race of the gods.
[249 d] All my discourse so far has been about the fourth kind of
madness, which causes him to be regarded as mad, who, when
he sees the beauty on earth, remembering the true beauty, feels
his wings growing and longs to stretch them for an upward flight,
but cannot do so, and, like a bird, gazes upward and neglects the
things below. [249 e]... and that he who loves the beautiful, par-
taking in this madness, is called a lover...[251 c] So, then, the soul
in its entirety is in upheaval and agitated and, like babies when
teething, get painful and itchy gums, that very same thing hap-
pens to the soul when it is sprouting wings.