Lykeia
There is a splendid path, lit by some unknown light,
That I once danced upon once upon a dreaming time.
That path led through the plains of wide-brimmed sky,
Across the breast of the mountain-side where the water falls.
Down into the valley it twines where the mummering of bees,
Sing sweetly under the touch of fair legged Melissa.
Then there a forest lies in wait, and the path travels within,
To dwell where the bright-tressed nymphs delight and play.
A little clearing bathed in silver light peaks from that abode,
There the Muses sing, and summer wind carries it aloft.
Clear-voiced Muses join me this night, let inspiration strike,
To sing of the divine fair daughter of Zeus, the maiden Artemis.
Her youthful golden face is crowned with a sweet heavenly light,
So much like her brother, golden armed, with his bright brow.
Bright-maned Phosphoros, hail to you, luminous shining one,
Holy is your fair curved cheek, holy are your lips and crown.
You wander where you will, your flying steps take you far,
And the night-singing dogs accompany your far-treading path!
Nymphs rise up to greet you, upon the mountain, and at the sea,
And the daughters of the forest greet you with their green-clad arms.
There they race by your side, like a pack that has taken flight,
Lo the clammer rises in sweet voice upon a wild midnight hunt,
And their songs grace the winds at your hidden sacred baths.
In the house, at the hearth, and in the tended sprawling feilds,
Hear the voices of women raise to greet your shining immortal face.
We gather round and proudly dance with you dancer unparalleled,
Dancing women, and the sway of girls at the cusp of dawning womanhood.
Light is life, transition from the dark, where once before we were blind,
And there your light is that which we see at first moment of awakened birth.
The babe stirs in your tender care, as you unleash the ripened womb,
Amid the mother’s joyful cries a new life enters a bright-lit world.
Divine Orthia let your blessing flow down upon the laboring woman,
The child of innocent heart and the tender blossoming girl.
neosalexandria 