[Lika_k]

Theodore Stephanides
Starry Trails
When winter flaunts its frost-clear nights,
A longing spurs my mind
To journey past the northern-lights
And leave the Earth behind.

The far-caught gleam of Saturn's ring
A magnet is to me;
And to the comet's mane I cling,
My goal the Galaxy.

The Pole-star, with compelling might,
Shines beacon-like on high,
And beckons to me in my flight
Across the ocean-sky.

Unending space, a starry sea,
Before me glimmers wide;
The spirals of the nebulae
Enlace me in their tide.

Infinity's resplendent maze
Unwinds its mighty scroll;
And, for a heart-beat, all its ways
Are open to my soul...

— Your soul... the stars... what bids you think
These two may have a tie?
Depart, o Clay, there is no link
Between you and the sky!

Presumptuous Clay! Would you aspire,
By sifting here your dust,
To mingle ashes with the fire
And dim the stars with rust?

Begone! Sink down to mouls again
For hubris is your guide.
Retire! Seek no more to profane
The Heavens' glittering pride!

— I go. But darkness has no hold,
Nor will it blind my sight,
For in my dust a grain of gold Reflects the stars' own light.

And, having once attained the Skies,
From Fate this gift I win:
To be, renouncing earth's dark ties,
With Stars forever kin!

(from "Worlds in a Crucible" 1973)

@темы: s, english, 20, theodore stephanides, helenike