Classic Poem

“T HE B ACCHAI .”

Where is the home for me?
O Cyprus, set in the sea,
Aphrodite's home in the soft sea-foam,
Would I could wend to thee;
Where the wings of the Loves are furled,
And faint the heart of the world!

Ay, or to Paphos' isle,
Where the rainless meadows smile
With riches rolled from the hundred-fold
Mouths of the far-off Nile,
Streaming beneath the waves
To the roots of the seaward caves!

But a better land is there
Where Olympos cleaves the air,
The high still dell where the Muses dwell,
Fairest of all things fair.
O there is Grace and there is the Heart's desire
And peace to adore thee, thou spirit of Guiding Fire!
— Translation of Gilbert M URRAY .