WINGED WORDS WINDSDAY
Compiled & Edited by Rob Chappell
(@RHCLambengolmo)
Vol. 2, No. 50: October 11, 2023
More Venus Poems!
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 quartet
of poems about the planet Venus and the celestial intelligence that was
believed to indwell and guide her. These poems (two modern and two ancient) describe
a wide variety of Venus’ aspects and characteristics, especially in her role as
the divine patron of romantic love and the fertility of Nature. Love is indeed
a many-splendored thing, and it has manifold aspects and manifestations that
paint a rainbow spectrum of diversity throughout our world.
“Astarte Syriaca”
By Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882)
MYSTERY: lo!
betwixt the Sun and Moon
Astarte of
the Syrians: Venus Queen
Ere
Aphrodite was. In silver sheen
Her twofold
girdle clasps the infinite boon
Of bliss whereof
the Heaven and Earth commune:
And from her
neck's inclining flower-stem lean
Love-freighted
lips and absolute eyes that wean
The pulse of
hearts to the spheres' dominant tune.
Torch-bearing,
her sweet ministers compel
All thrones
of light beyond the sky and sea
The
witnesses of Beauty's face to be:
That face,
of Love's all-penetrative spell
Amulet,
talisman, and oracle, --
Betwixt the Sun
and Moon a mystery.
The planet Venus, as photographed
by the Mariner 10 space probe in 1974. (Photo Credit: NASA –
Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)
“To a Star”
by Lucretia Maria Davidson (1808-1825)
Thou brightly-glittering star of even,
Thou gem upon the brow of Heaven
Oh! were this fluttering spirit free,
How quick 't would spread its wings to
thee.
How calmly, brightly dost thou shine,
Like the pure lamp in Virtue's shrine!
Sure the fair world which thou may'st boast
Was never ransomed, never lost.
There, beings pure as Heaven's own air,
Their hopes, their joys together share;
While hovering angels touch the string,
And seraphs spread the sheltering wing.
There cloudless days and brilliant nights,
Illumed by Heaven's refulgent lights;
There seasons, years, unnoticed roll,
And unregretted by the soul.
Thou little sparkling star of even,
Thou gem upon an azure Heaven,
How swiftly will I soar to thee,
When this imprisoned soul is free!
Orphic Hymn #54: “To Venus”
(Anonymous – Traditional Ancient Greek)
Heavenly,
illustrious, laughter-loving queen,
Sea-born,
night-loving, of an awesome mien;
Crafty, from
whom necessity first came,
Producing,
nightly, all-connecting dame:
'Tis thine
the world with harmony to join,
For all things
spring from thee, O power divine.
The triple
Fates are ruled by thy decree,
And all
productions yield alike to thee:
Whatever the
heavens, encircling all contain,
Earth
fruit-producing, and the stormy main,
Thy sway
confesses, and obeys thy nod,
Awesome
attendant of the brumal god:
Goddess of
marriage, charming to the sight,
Mother of
Loves, whom banquetings delight;
Source of
persuasion, secret, favoring queen,
Illustrious
born, apparent and unseen:
Spousal,
Lupercal, and to men inclined,
Prolific,
most-desired, life-giving., kind:
Great
scepter-bearer of the gods, 'tis thine,
Mortals in
necessary bands to join;
And every
tribe of savage monsters dire
In magic
chains to bind, through mad desire.
Come,
Cyprus-born, and to my prayer incline,
Whether
exalted in the heavens you shine,
Or pleased
in Syria's temple to preside,
Or over the
Egyptian plains thy car to guide,
Fashioned of
gold; and near its sacred flood,
Fertile and
famed to fix thy blest abode;
Or if
rejoicing in the azure shores,
Near where
the sea with foaming billows roars,
The circling
choirs of mortals, thy delight,
Or beauteous
nymphs, with eyes cerulean bright,
Pleased by
the dusty banks renowned of old,
To drive thy
rapid, two-yoked car of gold;
Or if in
Cyprus with thy mother fair,
Where
married women praise thee every year,
And
beauteous virgins in the chorus join,
Adonis pure
to sing and thee divine;
Come,
all-attractive to my prayer inclined,
For thee, I
call, with holy, reverent mind.
Sappho is pictured here in a
detail from Raphael’s Parnassus (painted in 1510-1511). She was
regarded by the ancient Greeks as the greatest female poet in their literary
history. (Image Credit: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)
“Ode to Aphrodite” (Venus)
By Sappho (630-570 BCE)
Throned in
splendor, immortal Aphrodite!
Child of
Zeus, Enchantress, I implore thee
Slay me not
in this distress and anguish,
Lady of
beauty.
Hither come
as once before thou camest,
When from
afar thou headrest my voice lamenting,
Headrest and
camest, leaving thy glorious father's Palace golden,
Yoking thy
chariot. Fair the doves that bore thee;
Swift to the
darksome Earth their course directing,
Waving their
thick wings from the highest heaven
Down through
the aether.
Quickly they
came. Then thou, O blessed goddess,
All in
smiling wreathed thy face immortal,
Bade me tell
thee the cause of all my suffering,
Why now I
called thee;
What for my
maddened heart I most was longing.
"Whom,"
thou criest, "dost wish that sweet Persuasion
Now win over
and lead to thy love, my Sappho?
Who is it
wrongs thee?
"For,
though now she flies, she soon shall follow,
Soon shall
be giving gifts who now rejects them.
Even though
now she love not, soon shall she love thee
Even though
thou wouldst not."
Come then
now, dear goddess, and release me
From my
anguish. All my heart's desiring
Grant thou
now. Now too again as aforetime,
Be thou my
ally.
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