ANTISTROPHE II

But blood that once is shed

In purple stream of death upon the ground,

Who then, when life is fled,

A charm to call it back again hath found?

Else against him who raised the dead to life

Zeus had not sternly warred, as warning given

To all men; but if Fate were not at strife

With Fate that brings from Heaven

Help from the Gods, my heart,

Out-stripping speech, had given thought free vent.

But now in gloom apart

It sits and moans in sullen discontent,

And hath no hope that e'er

It shall an issue seasonably fair

From out the tangled skein

Of life's strange course unravel straight and clear,

While in the fever of continuing pain

My soul doth burden sore of troublous anguish bear.

Æschylos Tragedies and Fragments · 第 457 / 507 题