Out on the Aegaean: Aphrodite

[ellenkushner]

Thurs. night
Well, now I know why I thought it was pronounced a-FRAH-di-tee when I was a kid -
Santorin
(A Legend of the Aegean)

' Who are you, Sea Lady,
And where in the seas are we?
I have too long been steering
By the flashes in your eyes.
Why drops the moonlight through my heart,
And why so quietly
Go the great engines of my boat
As if their souls were free? '
' Oh ask me not, bold sailor;
Is not your ship a magic ship
That sails without a sail:
Are not these isles the Isles of Greece
And dust upon the sea?
But answer me three questions
And give me answers three.
What is your ship?' ' A British. '
' And where may Britain be? '
' Oh it lies north, dear lady;
It is a small country. '
' Yet you will know my lover,
Though you live far away:
And you will whisper where he has gone,
That lily boy to look upon
And whiter than the spray. '
' How should I know your lover,
Lady of the sea? '
' Alexander, Alexander,
The King of the World was he. '
' Weep not for him, dear lady,
But come aboard my ship.
So many years ago he died,
He's as dead as dead can be. '
' O base and brutal sailor
To lie this lie to me.
His mother was the foam-foot
Star-sparkling Aphrodite;
His father was Adonis
Who lives away in Lebanon,
In stony Lebanon, where blooms
His red anemone.
But where is Alexander,
The soldier Alexander,
My golden love of olden days
The King of the world and me ?'
She sank into the moonlight
And the sea was only sea.

-- James Elroy Flecker

I looked this one up because we are to Santorini tomorrow morning, and fragments have been running through my head. We have seen many fine sights - Dubrovnik, Corfu, today Olympia - which I believe deliasherman has told you about. I am a pretty aggressive traveler on land. But at sea, I love just watching the color of the water as it moves out from our hull - a fizzy green - before deepening to the wine-dark sea beyond, at sunset. I read so much Greek mythology & stories like Mary Renault's as a kid, and haven't thought much of much of it in years - seeing these waters and these hills is like revisiting an old corner of my brain; but now I see!

Comments

[ladyat.livejournal.com]

That one's a keeper. And I've just found a lovely image to illustrate it, too. Many thanks.

Greece -- land of delicious food and exceptional dancers.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Santorini, oh wow. Be sure to spot the caldera!

[otterdance.livejournal.com]

Lovely poem, and lovely imagery through your eyes. I saw a little of Greece years agon, and sailed across that wine dark sea past Ithaca. Some day I'll get back.

And I still covet your ring. ;-)

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Ooh, ooh, James Elroy Flecker! We loves us some Flecker, we does. You do know "The Golden Journey to Samarkand"...?

[yaoi-in-exile.livejournal.com]

Oh, what a poem-! I love writing that tells a story, yet isn't technically literature...poetry and country lyrics, mostly. And in whatever context, there's always been something magical about the name Alexander to me. :3 Whattaguy.

*adds "Santorini" to List of Stops on Someday Worldwide Walkabout*