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Poems

June 2009

The horse of Achilles

by Angelos Sikelianos

O Field of Asphodel, two horses
Whinnied and raced along your edge,
Their backs were shining like a wave
As they came surging out of the tide
And tore across the empty sand,
Their necks were arched like breakers, high,
Stallions flecked with white foam . . .
Lightning kindled in the eye.
They dove back in, wave into the waves,
Foam into the foam of the sea,
And then were gone. I knew those steeds,
One had taken on human voice,
And prophecy, a sayer of sooth.
The hero gripped the reins and kicked,
Driving onward his godlike youth . . .

Holy horses, fate has kept you
Indestructible, and set
Upon your foreheads black as night
A charm against the evil eye,
A great and blinding blaze of white!

Angelos Sikelianos's poems emphasized national history, religious symbolism, and universal harmony.


more from this author

This article originally appeared in The New Criterion, Volume 27 June 2009, on page 29

Copyright © 2012 The New Criterion | www.newcriterion.com

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