ὁ Ἕσπερος ὁ Δαίμων

ἥκει ὁ Ἕσπερος ὁ Δαίμων

καὶ κάχλαζει τό μέθυ

καγχαλάω καὶ ἐγών


Translation:

Evening hath come; His darkling power is upon us;

our spirits are splashing in clear crystal goblets;

I laugh aloud like a crowing cock with hens cackling.


"What is it that makes Homer so much more vivid and concrete in his descriptions than any other poet? His lively eye with which he discerns so much more....
At bottom the aesthetic phenomenon is quite simple: all one needs in order to be a poet is the ability to have a lively action going on before one continually, to live surrounded by hosts of spirits." Nietzsche, Birth of Tragedy, tr. Francis Golffing, p.55.

Song of Thyrsis, #1 of Theocritus

Oh so sweet is the windsong of the pines, Goat-Boy,

as near the trickling springs the pine grove sings.

And this pleases me well, this tune you're piping.

You'll take the prize second to Pan. If he wants

the horny billy goat, you'll get the nanny goat,

and if he takes the nanny, you'll get their kid,

and kid flesh is soft and succulent, ere weaned.

.............Goat-boy replies:

Sweeter, my sheep-boy friend, is your song than

the singing of water trickling over rocks. If the

Muses get the ewe for their gift, you'll get the

barn-raised suckling lamb for a trophy. And if it

please them to take the lamb, you'll get the ewe.

............Thyrsis sings:

Would you honor the Goddess of this place, Goat-Boyo?

Would you sit among tamarisk bushes, here on her hill,

playing your pipes? Then I'll take care of both flocks?

............Goat-Boy

Not right, Sheep-Boyo, not right to pipe at Noon for

it may disrupt Pan's noontime nap....

Shenanigans (2 March 18:00 PST)

So what shenanigans have you been up to lately? Can you tell me truly, now? For my part, I've been gadding about town, gallivanting galore through the higgledy-piggledy sewer deconstruction or 'renewal zones' of Portland, Oregon. Too bad for the citizens that the city fathers, most of whom live up in the West Hills or out-of-town, discontinued the sewer rat poisoning program so as to free monies for their pet projects. So now we citizens, living downtown or close in, have visits from sewer rats in the evening and early morning hours.
If you're quiet, as soon as twilight comes on, you can see rats prowling the shrubbery and sidewalks, and speeding swiftly along overhead cables. Faster than the squirrels, who come to frequent standstills every few yards, the rats use the cables as if they were sporting motorists on interstate freeways.









http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shenanigan