Do I sit in the market place—

do I smile, does a noble brow

bend like the brow of Zeus—

am I a spouse, his or any,

am I a woman, or goddess or queen,

to be met by a god with a smile—and left?

II

Do you ask for a scroll,

parchment, oracle, prophecy, precedent;

do you ask for tablets marked with thought

or words cut deep on the marble surface,

do you seek measured utterance or the mystic trance?

Sleep on the stones of Delphi—

dare the ledges of Pallas

but keep me foremost,

keep me before you, after you, with you,

never forget when you start

for the Delphic precipice,

never forget when you seek Pallas

and meet in thought

 Prev. P 18/71 next