288 292
288
PHAEDRUS
[251α]
SOCRATES: but he who has witnessed things
as they used to be, once he spots a godlike visage that resem-
bles heavenly beauty or a body shaped so as to bring it to mind,
at first shivers with fright and is entered by some of the terrors
of those times, then, gazing upon it, he pays respects as if to a
god and were he not concerned that he will be thought a mani-
ac, he would sacrifice as to a statue or a god, to the youth whom
he loves. [251 β] … while taking in through the eyes the outflow
of beauty the soul becomes warmer and the growth of its wings
is moistened, and the more the temperature rises, everything
around the place of the wings’ sprouting melts whereas it used
to be compact and hard, thus obstructing the wings’ formation,
but with the nourishment received, the stalk of the wing fleshes
out and strives to grow right from the root throughout the soul:
because in old times, the soul used to be winged in its entire-
ty. [251ξ] ... so then, while observing the beauty of the youth, it
receives the particles that are emitted and flow out of the part
which is called, precisely, himeros, and, once the himeros is re-
ceived, it is moistened and warmed and relieved from hardship
and pleasured; but when it is separated and chagrined, the open-
ings of the pores out of which the wings grow, dry and close up,
thus obstructing the wing’s sprouting and the soul, as it is be-
sieged by the himeros and pulsing with drive, pricks each one
of its pores, so that spurred in its entirety and prickled from all
round, it enters into intense longing and it suffers, although it
simultaneously rejoices in remembering the beautiful. From the
admixture of those two, and impatient with the paradox that has
befallen it, the soul rages puzzled and furious and can neither rest
at night nor stay in one place by day but runs longingly wherever
ESKIMOS
Every time the body opens, -an open call
to the world,
acquiescence, an open call
expectancy
and then a forgetting
a forgetting of acquiescence, of opening,
of calling
“all of it out there
is already in the interior”
says the mouth of the belly
“let us at last enter
one another”
Out there – the future tense
under the birds’ governance
as they fly freely high
above our heads
without us knowing it
“You are strangers
we live next to you but you don’t know it”
says the sparrow
ticking with its beak
our window
invisible voices of trees
why should people be embarrassed
faced with the blooming of desire?
The Eskimos tremble
one inside the other
before receiving it
when after the interminable northern night
the sky opens up
and the sun comes out to touch them
LEAVES
in these stammerings
at the launching of language
outside yes and no
only inside I want
body and soul conjoin
in all the opened
suspended leaves
and now behold:
one of them dropping slowly
to the ground
my mind takes flight as if enchanted
and to your side every thought flutters
take pity on me, sweetheart, forsake me not
for you I pine and weep or don’t you know that
LIGHT UP
I joined the crones entering
the church of a morning
the lights bright, the chanters in front of
microphones
myself one of the women
bearing candles,
I light one up and pray
ARCHILOCHUS 193W1
wretched soulless I suffer the longing
the horrible pains which the gods impart
piercing my bones
ἵμερος
(ο):
A.
longing, yearning after
, c. gen. rei, “σίτου . . περὶ φρένας ἵμερος αἱρεῖ” Il.11.89; γόου ἵμερον ὦρσε raised [in
them] a yearning after tears, i.e. a desire of the soul to disburden itself in grief, Od.16.215, πατρὸς ὑφ᾽ ἵμερον ὦρσε γόοιο
raised in him a
yearning for
his father, 4.113; in pl., πολλοὶ γὰρ εἰς ἓν ξυμπίτνουσιν ἵ. various
impulses
or
emotions coincide to
one longing
, A. Ch.299,
2.
abs.,
desire, love
, “ὥς σεο νῦν ἔραμαι καί με γλυκὺς ἵ. αἱρεῖ” Il.3.446, as now I love thee, and sweet
desire layeth hold of me; “δαμέντα φρένας ἱμέρῳ” Pi.O.1.41, [40]his mind overcome with desire, cf. Sapph.Supp.25.16; “ἱμέρῳ
πεπληγμένος” A.Ag.544, struck by desire.
3.
personified, “ Ἔρως . . χαρίτων, ἱμέρου … πατήρ” Pl.Smp.197d: Eros … father of
Desire and Charites
ἱμερό-φωνος
, ον,:
A
.
of lovely voice or song
, “ἀηδών”: nightingale
ἱμείρω
, Aeol.
ἰμέρρω
:
A
.
long for, desire
, c. gen., τί κακῶν ἱμείρετε τούτων . . ; Od.10.431 “why are you desiring these evils”;
“μάχης” A.Ag.940, battle; “βίου” S.Fr.952, life.