Hilda Doolittle (H.D.), 1886-1961

 

                               Helen

            All Greece hates

            the still eyes in the white face,

            the lustre as of olives

            where she stands,

            and the white hands.

            All Greece reviles

            the wan face when she smiles,

            hating it deeper still

            when it grows wan and white,

            remembering past enchantments

            and past ills.

            Greece sees unmoved,

            God’s daughter, born of love,

            the beauty of cool feet

            and slenderest knees,

            could love indeed the maid,

            only if she were laid,

            white ash amid funereal cypresses.

 Από τον επιτάφιό της:

So you may say

Greek flower, Greek ecstasy

reclaims forever

one who died

following intricate song’s

lost measure…