Underflow

I call to Thalia, wreathed in ivy,
daughter of Zeus and wise Mnemosyne,
good mother of the Corybantes
who dance with spear and shield a-clash,
O merry muse of comedy,
of country rhyme and rustic tales,
bearer of the long-armed crook
with which the shepherd guides his flock,
yours is the laughter that clears the soul,
the simple jest and the sharpened wit.
O ever-blooming Thalia,
I pray to you, goddess, I honor your gifts.

I call to Polyhymnia, blessed one,
daughter of Zeus and wise Mnemosyne,
I call to you, goddess whose gift it is
to glorify the holy, to grant us faith,
to inspire us in all devotion,
to fire our souls with love for the gods.
Polyhymnia, sustainer of hope,
yours are the words of reverence,
the heartfelt call to deity;
yours is the spark of divine ecstasy.
Polyhymnia, exalted one,
I pray to you, goddess, I honor your gifts.

I call to Euterpe who gives such delight,
daughter of Zeus and wise Mnemosyne,
goddess who plays upon the flute,
O muse of sweet music, I call out to you.
Yours is the singer and the song;
yours is the rhythm and the tune;
yours is melody, harmony, rhapsody.
Friend of the songsmith and the player,
O goddess, you hold in hand the power
to soothe the spirit, to charge the soul.
Euterpe, granter of joy to all,
I pray to you, goddess, I honor your gifts.

I call to Clio, great of knowledge,
daughter of Zeus and wise Mnemosyne,
goddess who knows much of ancient days,
of what has been, and thus of what may be.
Great muse of history, you look to the past
and understand its import and its might;
you hold in your heart the lessons of time,
the wisdom that has passed through the world.
Through your power do we hear the words
of those long gone, do we receive their counsel.
Clio, chronicler of the good and the ill,
I pray to you, goddess, I honor your gifts.

All praise to Leto, blessed among mothers,
who brought forth fair twins, Artemis and Apollo,
children mighty and shining bright. Leto,
daughter of Coeus and luminous Phoebe,
dark-veiled goddess, gentle and kind,
friend of women who lie in childbed,
of mothers who hold their babes at night,
protector of youth, of all innocent ones,
O Leto, great goddess who hears all prayers,
I call to you with a grateful heart.
I honor you, good and gracious Leto,
I offer you my praise and seek your blessing.

I call to Chione, bright-shining daughter
of Boreas who drives the cold north wind
and mountain-roaring Oreithyia,
mother of Eumolpos who served great Demeter,
who brought to the world her deepest mysteries.
Chione, beautiful goddess, fierce-hearted,
bold of spirit, child of the frozen earth,
yours is the winter, the long, dark nights;
yours is the storm and the deep-drifting snow.
We know you in the darkening days;
we know you in the ice-bound lands. Chione,
goddess of the frost and the rime, I honor you.

Bia, O goddess whose might is well known,
whose calling it is to stand guard at the throne
of thundering Zeus, I offer you my praise.
O able daughter of battle-wise Pallas
and Styx in whose name great oaths are sworn,
sister of Nike, granter of victory,
with whom you share your holy station,
broad-winged one whose will is unmatched,
whose power compels the strongest to bend,
yours is the strength to stand against any,
yours is the irresistible force. Bia,
unyielding one, grant me your gift of fortitude.

I pray to Athena, learned one, clever one,
daughter of Metis, mother of wisdom,
and great and thundering Zeus. Athena,
yours is the realm of the intellect,
of judgment, of reason, of clear perception;
yours is the might behind great minds.
Grant to me, O goddess, the power of thought,
the will to study, the wit to understand.
Grant to me, goddess, the gift of knowledge.

I call out to Psyche, sweet breath of the spirit,
fair among mortals, fair too among gods.
Beloved of Eros, your tale is one
of joy and of sorrow, of retribution
and redemption, of determination
and forgiveness. Daughter of humanity,
beautiful above all women, your loveliness
a blessing and a blight; loved by the love god,
betrayed by uncertainty, you would bear any torment,
face any fear, to reunite with your dear one.
Bright-winged goddess who knows the art of transformation,
who knows the work of a great love, I pray to you.

Asteria who dwells in darkness, star-bright,
mistress of the spangled skies, I praise your name.
Daughter of Phoebe, great of understanding,
and restless Coeus who seeks to know all;
sister of twice-blessed Leto; mother of Hekate
to whom all honors are given, I pray to you.
Beautiful goddess, pursued by thundering Zeus,
in fleeing you became a quail and fell
into the sea, to rise again an island,
fair Delos of famous name. Asteria,
mistress of auguries, lady of the falling star,
great of glory, I praise your wisdom and your might.

Phobos and Deimos, great sons of Aphrodite
and Ares who exceeds all warriors,
companion of Enyo, fierce battle-goddess,
and Eris who delights in all strife. Brothers two,
ever-present on the field of war, ever-ready
with spear and with shield, you hold fast the reins
of your father’s bright chariot, O mighty ones,
O spirits of fear. Phobos of the burning eyes,
yours it is to rout the foe, to drive them in panic
from the battleground; Deimos, yours is a subtler power,
yours is the silent chill of dread that drains the heart
of courage. I praise you, O gods; I honor your might.

I call to Eunomia, lady of laws,
daughter of Themis and thundering Zeus,
sister of Dike who is just and Eirene
the peace-bringer, sisters three who hold in hand
the well-being of all, of the community.
Yours are the good laws, the fair and proper order,
for law itself does not make what is right;
yours is the punishment of the evil-doer;
yours too is the care of the powerless,
of those preyed upon by the strong and the cruel.
Eunomia who knows the good of custom and the ill,
I pray to you for wisdom, for the courage to do right.

I call out to Maia of the star-strewn skies,
eldest of the Pleiades, wise daughters of Atlas
who holds up the heavens. Beautiful Maia,
Maia of the cypress wood, black-eyed goddess,
in the dark of night Zeus came to you, to lay with you
in your deep-hewn cave, well hidden in the stony soil
of distant Mount Kyllene. Maia of the mountain,
well-honored you were in wild Arcadia,
that rugged land in which you bore your son,
bright Hermes of the many gifts. Gracious goddess,
companion of women in their travail, friend of the mother,
the child at her breast, I praise your kindness and your might.

I sing now to Methe, joyful and unrestrained,
goddess who knows the worth of pleasure, the value
of forgetfulness. Yours is the flow of words,
the loosening of the tongue; yours is merriment
and good cheer, the heady sweetness of the wine,
the wild-hearted dance, the fire of ecstasy,
the rule of the heart, impulse obeyed,
stories that never end, tales only true
in the telling. Companion of Dionysos,
you travel with his retinue, you follow in his wake;
we know you in the brimming cup, the stumbling step,
an evening’s evanescent grace. I honor you, O Methe.

To Pothos, great of repute, great of might,
imminent and inevitable, companion
of fair Aphrodite and the Erotes,
yours is the gift of sweet desire that fills the heart
and fires the loins, a gift that sears the soul.
Yours is the cup of passion, from which you pour,
lavishly and with abandon, upon all humankind,
a blessing of unreason, an irresistible call;
yours is the longing of the lovelorn, the yearning
of the distant lover, of those torn from the arms
of their beloved, separated by need, by duty,
or by sorrowful circumstance. Pothos, to you I pray.

To Thanatos, so kind and so good, I offer my praise.
Son of the darkness and the night, of wise Erebos
and raven-haired Nyx, brother of Hypnos who grants a respite
ephemeral and sweet, O Thanatos, you bring a repose
of a longer span–an endless sleep is yours to bestow.
Beautiful Thanatos, well-wreathed with poppies red as blood,
black-winged god, fleet-footed one, bearer of the sharp-edged sword
with which you cut a lock of hair from each who enters Hades’ realm:
some call you merciless, hard of heart, O god who takes
from us those we most love–and yet, dear Thanatos,
yours is a mercy great and freeing, a boundless comfort,
a final peace. O god who gives us life’s last blessing, I praise you.

I call out to Peitho, great daughter of Ocean
and sea-striding Tethys, fair of fame and great of name.
Peitho who is the irresistible voice,
who is the sound of the surf, who is bird-song
and fair weather, whose gift it is to turn the tides,
to bring about a change in reason, I pray to you.
Companion of Aphrodite, beguiler of hearts,
refiner of feeling, yours is the divergence of passions,
the coaxing of lovers, the fascination of love;
you are seduction, the call of need to need;
you are the soul and sweetness of persuasion.
Peitho, herald of the heart, I honor you.

I call to great Styx who wards the river
that bounds the realm of deep-hearted Hades.
Wise eldest daughter of Ocean and Tethys,
eldest of those three thousand fair maids,
yours is the power behind an oath,
yours is the might to break the forsworn,
yours is the comfort of the forsaken.
O solace of those with a righteous wrath,
with hearts overfull of rage and revenge,
with the anger of the just, I call to you.
I honor you, good and gracious Styx,
I offer you my praise and seek your blessing.

I call to Dione, ancient of name,
grand-daughter of Gaia and star-strewn Ouranos,
mother of blessed Aphrodite,
companion and counsel of thundering Zeus.
O goddess who knows the ways of fate,
mistress of visions and oracles,
friend of the seer and the prophet,
well-honored in temple and in grove,
well-honored at far-famed Dodona,
teller of the hidden tales, I call to you.
I honor you, good and gracious Dione,
I offer you my praise and seek your blessing.

All praise to wise Mnemosyne, mother of Muses,
mistress of your mother’s wisdom,
buried deep within the earth, with bone and stone.
Mistress of memory, the sweet and the sharp,
protector of history, preserver of stories,
maintainer of tales of sorrow and joy,
yours is the truth within the fact,
the shadow cast on what we know
by what has been forgotten.
O mother of sight and inspiration, I call to you.
I honor you, good and gracious Mnemosyne,
I offer you my praise and seek your blessing.