Poseidon

The sunbeams playedUpon the wide rolling sea.Far out on the roadstead glimmered the vesselThat was to bear me home.But the favoring wind was lacking,And still quietly I sat on the white down,By the lonely shore.

And I read the lay of Odysseus,The old, the eternally-young lay,From whose billowy-rushing pagesJoyously into me ascendedThe breath of the gods,And the lustrous spring-tide of humanity,And the blooming skies of Hellas.

My loyal heart faithfully followedThe son of Laertes in his wanderings and vexations,By his side I sat with troubled soul,On the hospitable hearthWhere queens were spinning purple.

And I helped him to lie and happily to escapeFrom the dens of giants and the arms of nymphs.And I followed him into Cimmerian night,Into storm and shipwreck,And with him I suffered unutterable misery.

With a sigh I spake: "Oh, thou cruel Poseidon,Fearful is thy wrath,And I myself trembleFor mine own journey home."Scarce had I uttered the words,When the sea foamed,And from the white billows aroseThe reed-crowned head of the sea-god.And disdainfully he cried:"Have no fear, Poetling!Not in the least will I imperilThy poor little ship.Neither will I harass thy precious lifeWith too considerable oscillations.For thou, Poetling, hast never offended me,Thou hast not injured a single turretOn the sacred stronghold of Priam.Not a single little lash hast thou singedIn the eyelid of my son Polyphemus;And never hast thou been sagely counselled and protectedBy the goddess of wisdom, Pallas Athene."

Thus exclaimed Poseidon,And plunged again into the sea.And, at his coarse sailor-wit,Laughed under the waterAmphitrite, the stout fishwoman,And the stupid daughters of Nereus.