The Hymns of Orpheus

[arethinn]

leafshimmer posted the text of the Orphic hymn to Selene (the Moon) in his journal today, having been quite taken by it when it was posted on a Feri-related list I guess we are both on (since I saw it there too). It's astonishingly beautiful and I recommend that you read it, and the other hymns - try this site, which has freer, more modern translations than Thomas Taylor's, "in a style unrestrained by the eighteenth century's insistence on rhyme". For example:

To the Stars

With awed reverence, I call upon the pure and sacred Stars,
The spirits of Celestial Realms, and daughters of Night.
In whirling circles of eternal fires, the source of life,
You have poured your light out upon the darkness,
To make a path the Fates have shown unto the Wise,
In Seven kingdoms run you with wandering flames,
unwearied diamond truth forever piercing the Stygian veil,
Hail joyful, dazzling, and ever wakeful fires,
And on my desires shine with high regard,
These sacred rites attend, and end our works devoted to your praise.