by Brett Rutherford
adapted from Dioscorides, The Greek Anthology, v, 193
Most sombre of all
is that of Adonis,
for whom the Cyprian
Aphrodite forever weeps —
Cleo was beside herself,
a nymph possessed
as the gong sounded
and the low flute
trembled, again
and again, as votive
to Venus, she smote
her own breasts until
they shone in moonlight
milk-white.
Adonis, uninterested
in womankind,
is mourned each year —
a wooden bier
with his effigy inside it
is cast upon the waters,
laden with tears
from love-sick maidens,
and mothers whose sons
never lived to be
happy bridegrooms.
If such as Cleo
loved me and mourned me so,
I should happily go
on Adonis's little boat
on its way to Acheron,
and the isles blessed
by gong and flute
and fruit-offering,
sent off in the agony
of a grief-beaten breast.
