giclee print
like a palm tree
Book 6: Lines 175-179
He launched in at once, endearing, sly and suave:
"Here I am at your mercy, princess--
are you a goddess or a mortal? If one of the gods
who rule the skies up there, you're Artemis to the life,
the daughter of mighty Zeus--I see her now--just look
at your build, your bearing, your lithe flowing grace...
But if you're one of the mortals living here on earth,
three times blest are your father, your queenly mother,
three times over your brothers too. How often their hearts
must warm with joy to see you striding into the dances--
such a bloom of beauty. True, but he is the one
more blest than all other men alive, that man
who sways you with gifts and leads you home, his bride!
I have never laid eyes on anyone like you,
neither man nor woman...
I look at you and a sense of wonder takes me.
Wait,
once I saw the like--in Delos, beside Apollo's altar--
the young slip of a palm-tree springing into the light.
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