Homeric Hymn to Demeter 1-89

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Homeric Hymn to Demeter 1-89 Author(s): Burton Raffel Source: Arion: A Journal of Humanities and the Classics, Vol. 9, No. 4 (Winter, 1970), pp. 415-

420Published by: Trustees of Boston UniversityStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20163307Accessed: 29-07-2015 11:18 UTC

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HOMERIC HYMN TO DEMETER 1-89

Translated by Burton Raffel

My song begins: Demeter, Demeter, Yellow-haired goddess, rich-haired Demeter, Goddess: great:

who walked with her slender daughter, Persephone, Zeus' daughter, and because of Zeus lost her daughter

to Hades?

Golden Demeter, Oh

shining Demeter?

when she left her daughter in a meadow

of roses and crocus and violets,

playing with the sea-king's daughters in a meadow

of iris and hyacinth and shining narcissus,

marvellous even to gods who never

die, narcissus

grown like a trap for that flower-faced

girl, narcissus grown as Earth's favor

to Hades, Zeus' favor

to Hades, and that dark Lord

who welcomes the dead came.



4l6 HOMERIC HYMN TO DEMETER I-89

Laughing, she reached down where a hundred flowers hung On that one stalk, and their perfume made the sky giddy And the earth, and even the sea, and she reached

And plucked And there in Nysa

the earth

opened And Hades rode out, whipping the horses to Death, And he took her in his golden chariot

Though she cried

And tried to run from him:

"Zeus!"

she cried,

"My father, Zeus!"



Burton Raffel 417

But there was no one to hear her, there in Nysa, No men, no gods,

nor Zeus, Nor even sun-ripe olives glittering As they hung in that silence. Except The Titan's daughter, magic Hecat?, wrapped In shining veils and lost

In shimmering thought: goddess of the moon: she heard.

And Helios, lord of the sun, sitting

Away from the other gods, sitting in his own temple And listening to prayers breathing up from men: he heard.

And so he took her, Zeus' brother, Took Zeus' daughter

Unwilling And rode away, Lord

Of men, Lord of many names, Hades.

And while she could see

Stars

And sky And the earth

And the flowing sea, and fish leaping, And the sun

hot

bright She hoped she would see

Demeter and all the gods of heaven, And she hoped, while her heart hurt. And she cried

high loud

So the mountains echoed, and the seas echoed, And Demeter heard her, And her heart seemed to split: She ripped the holy veil from her hair, Tore it in her hands, Threw her dark cloak from her shoulders,



4l8 HOMERIC HYMN TO DEMETER I-89

and flew as birds fly,

high over the dry earth and the soft sea,

hunting, hunting. But no one told her

The truth, no god would tell her, no man would tell, No omen-bird came.

For nine days she wandered

Blind, behind a torch burning

Bright in one hand, a torch burning bright In her other hand, tasting

No drop of ambrosia, drinking No drop of sweet nectar, Never bathing her body. And when light-carrying Dawn came for the tenth time

Hecat? came, a torch bright in her hands, And told her:

"Demeter!

Queen of the seasons

Giver of shining gifts: which god, which man, who

came and carried away

Persephone and left you with tears

in your heart?

All I heard was her voice, I saw

nothing. This is the truth, this is all."



Burton Raffel 419

And rich-haired Demeter, hearing her, Said nothing, but ran at her side, ran with torches, Ran to Helios

?Watcher for gods, Watcher for men?

and stood

where his horses stood

And asked:

"Helios, honor whatever goodness I've given you.

I, the goddess Demeter, beg for your help. The child I carried under my heart,

sweet branch that I grew, that grew in me, beautiful child,

I heard her cry through the unharvested air, the shrill scream

of a girl being forced?

And yet I saw nothing. But you, Helios: you watch from above the clouds, You shine down on land, on water:

tell me the truth:

which god, which man,

who came and carried away

Persephone

against her will

against my will?"



420 HOMERIC HYMN TO DEMETER I-89

And Helios answered:

"Demeter, I will tell you the truth. I honor your grief. Your sorrow for that slender girl

moves my heart.

But the mover and shaper of your sorrow is

only

Zeus,

cloud-gatherer Zeus,

Zeus,

Hades' brother, who gave the girl to his own brother, Made Persephone

Hades' wife

for Hades to take.

And Hades took her,

though she cried through the empty air, Carried her down in his chariot, down to darkness and mist.

Lady, let your sorrow be done:

Let this fierce anger end:

Hades, Lord of men,

Is a god, your own brother, Born of the same blood:

Your daughter has a worthy husband, He holds a third of the world, his

From the beginning, his share when sea and sky and earth

And the world under the world were divided.

He rules in his own kingdom, He is lord of his people."

Then Helios whipped his horses

And like long-winged birds

They carried his chariot

Lightly Away.



Homeric Hymn to Demeter 1-89

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