#WingedWordsWindsday: 2023/09/13 -- Venus Returns to the Predawn Sky!

 

WINGED WORDS WINDSDAY

Compiled & Edited by Rob Chappell (@RHCLambengolmo)

Vol. 2, No. 46: September 13, 2023

 

Venus Returns to the Predawn Sky!

 

A Note from the Editor

                The planet Venus has returned to the early morning, predawn sky! Visible now in the east before sunrise, she appears to be a silvery pearl, shining steadily on the dome of the sky. As the weeks go by, and autumn turns to winter, Venus will climb higher – and shine brighter – in the morning twilight sky. Venus is my favorite planet to observe in the night sky, both with the naked eye and through binoculars.

                Venus was observed and venerated throughout the ancient world under a variety of names and epithets, including “the Daystar” (as the herald of dawn or dusk). In Mesopotamia, the planet was known as Inanna (in Sumerian) and Ishtar (in Akkadian); in Persia, her ruling intelligence was known as the yazata (archangel) Anahita; the Phoenicians knew her by the name of Astarte. Among the Greeks, the planet had three appellations: Phosphorus (when she appeared in the morning sky before sunrise), Hesperus (when she appeared in the evening sky after sunset), and Aphrodite (the proper name of the planet herself). The planet’s modern name, Venus, has been borrowed directly from Latin, and in the Romance languages descended from Latin, Friday is named after Venus as well.

                This week, I’m sharing a garland of poems about the planet Venus (and the celestial intelligence that was believed to indwell and guide her) from across the centuries, beginning with the ancient Greeks and continuing through British and North American poets of recent centuries. These poems celebrate a wide variety of Venus’ aspects and characteristics, especially in her role as the divine patron of romantic love. Be sure to watch for the beautiful Morningstar on the next clear morning in your neighborhood!

 

“Hymn to Aphrodite” [Venus]

By Proclus Diadochus (412-485 CE)

Translated by Thomas Taylor (1758-1835)

A celebrated royal fount I sing,

From foam begotten, and of Loves the spring,

Those winged, deathless powers, whose general sway

In different modes all mortal tribes obey.

With mental darts some pierce the god-like soul,

And freedom rouse unconscious of control;

That anxious hence the center to explore

Which leads on high from matter's stormy shore,

The ardent soul may meditate her flight,

And view their mother's palaces of light.

But others, watchful of their father's will,

Attend his councils and his laws fulfil,

His bounteous providence o'er all extend,

And strengthen generation without end.

And others last, the most inferior kind,

Preside o'er marriage, and its contracts bind,

Intent a race immortal to supply

From man calamitous and doomed to die.

While all Cythera's high commands obey,

And bland attention to her labors pay.

O venerable goddess! hear my prayer,

For nought escapes thine universal ear:

Whether to embrace the mighty heaven is thine,

And send the world from thence a soul divine;

Or whether, seated in the aethereal plain,

Above these seven-fold starry orbs you reign,

Imparting to our ties, with bounteous mind,

A power untamed, a vigor unconfined;—

Hear me, O goddess, and my life defend,

With labors sad, and anxious for their end;

Transfix my soul with darts of holy fire,

And avert the flames of base desire.

 

 

The first page of the Classical Latin poem Pervigilium Veneris (The Vigil of Genus), composed in the 5^th century CE), from the Codex Salmasianus. (Image Credit: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

 

Venus (as the Daystar) in Old English!

(Cynewulf, 9th Century CE)

Ëala Ëarendel, engla beorhtast,

Ofer middangeard monnum sended

“Hail Daystar, of angels the brightest,

Over Middle-Earth to humankind sent!”

 

“To the Planet Venus”

By William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

 What strong allurement draws, what spirit guides,

Thee, Vesper! brightening still, as if the nearer

Thou comes to man’s abode the spot grew dearer

Night after night? True is it Nature hides

Her treasures less and less. Man now presides

In power, where once he trembled in his weakness;

Science advances with gigantic strides;

But are we aught enriched in love and meekness?

Aught dost thou see, bright Star! of pure and wise

More than in humbler times graced human story;

That makes our hearts more apt to sympathize

With heaven, our souls more fit for future glory,

When earth shall vanish from our closing eyes,

Ere we lie down in our last dormitory?

 

“Morning Star”

By Emily Jane Brontë (1818-1848)

Cold clear and blue the morning heaven

Expands its arch on high

Cold and clear Lake Werna's water

Reflects that winter's sky

The moon has set but Venus shines

A silent silvery star.

 

“Faery Song”

By Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888)

 

 The moonlight fades from flower and rose

And the stars dim one by one;

The tale is told, the song is sung,

And the Faery feast is done.

The night-wind rocks the sleeping flowers,

And sings to them, soft and low.

The early birds erelong will wake:

'Tis time for the Elves to go.

 

O'er the sleeping earth we silently pass,

Unseen by mortal eye,

And send sweet dreams, as we lightly float

Through the quiet moonlit sky;--

For the stars' soft eyes alone may see,

And the flowers alone may know,

The feasts we hold, the tales we tell;

So 'tis time for the Elves to go.

 

From bird, and blossom, and bee,

We learn the lessons they teach;

And seek, by kindly deeds, to win

A loving friend in each.

And though unseen on earth we dwell,

Sweet voices whisper low,

And gentle hearts most joyously greet

The Elves where'er they go.

 

When next we meet in the Faery dell,

May the silver Moon's soft light

Shine then on faces gay as now,

And Elfin hearts as light.

Now spread each wing, for the eastern sky

With sunlight soon shall glow.

The Morning Star shall light us home:

Farewell! for the Elves must go.

 

“Love's Morning Star”

By Marcus Mosiah Garvey (1887-1940)

 

I've waited patiently for you,

And now you come to make me glad;

I shall be ever good and true,

And be the dearest, sweetest dad.

 

You cheer my life with every smile,

And make me feel much like a bird

That flits and sings just all the while

Such songs as you have always heard.

 

You are the beacon light, my dear,

That guides me on the happy way;

Such love as yours I would not share,

But treasure in my heart all day.

 

I dream of you each eve and morn;

I picture you from distance far,

And everywhere, where love is born,

You are the brightest Morning Star.

 

King Gilgamesh bids farewell to Siduri (actually, Ishtar/Venus in disguise) and one of her acolytes in this illustration from Ishtar and Izdubar, a versified English paraphrase of the Gilgamesh Epic by Leonidas Le Cenci Hamilton, published in 1884. (Image Credit: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)