Muses of Olympos, fill my heart
With yearning for a new song:
I am eager to hear
The maidenly voice
Of girls singing a lovely tune to the sky
…will scatter sweet sleep from my eyelids,
And leads me to go into the assembly…
Where I shall shake my yellow hair…
…tender feet
…with desire that loosens limbs, and more
meltingly
Than sleep or death she casts her glances:
Not to no purpose is she sweet.
But Astymeloisa offers me no answer;
Rather, holding the garland,
Like a star flashing through
The radiant heavens,
Or a golden sapling, or soft down…
… she stepped through on tapered feet;
Making her locks beautiful, the moist charm of
Kinyrads
Sits on the maiden’s flowing hair.
…through the crowd Astymeloisa
Makes her way as the people’s darling…
…taking…
…I say…
…if only a silver cup…
… to see if she might love me…
…coming closer, she might take my tender hand,
Immediately I would become her suppliant…
Muses are the goddesses of music, song and dance.
(1)
Olympos is an ancient city in in Lycia. It is the
city near Mount Olympus. (2)
Yearning for a new song – at that time, music was
very popular and was deeply rooted in the Greek culture
Maidenly voice of girls singing – ancient Greek
culture includes chorus singing and/or dancing poetry
Tune to the sky - could be that since they
believed in gods, they were offering songs to the gods in the sky
...”will scatter… assembly” – attending assembly
was a regular opportunity for all make citizens of Athens. The missing subject
may be the song sung by the girls, which shows the excitement the narrator is
feeling about the upcoming singing. (3, 4)
Astymeloisa – is a person the narrator is focusing
on. Maybe one of the girls in the chorus
“Like a star…soft down” – descriptions about the beautiful
Astymeloisa
Tapered feet - apparently, tapered shape of feet
is called Greek type. Maybe that was the most of Greek people’s toe shape (5)
The moist charms of Kinyras – perfumed ointment.
Kinyras was a legendary king of Cyprus which was famous for the perfume it
produced (6)
Through the
crowd – I guess there were many people who were watching the chorus
“the people’s darling” – the name Astymeloisa
means “she whom the city cares about.”
Source:
2.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_chorus
6.
Greek Lyric
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