Cup of Immortality


Oh, for a sip of heavenly ambrosia
I would give my soul away!
For why would there be a cup of immortality
if I were only to gaze at it in my dreams?
Oh, for a quick glance at the immortal gods
I would climb Mount Olympus!
And perchance if I should meet fair Athena
I would bathe in her glory!

To have an immortal soul and yet be so mortal
ah, the pity of it! The tragic sense of it!
To be given three score and ten
most of which to be spent in wasteland
is chastisement enough for the original sin!
The Spirit that in us refuses to die
in a body that dust into dust will be
dream as we may of immortality!

The beauty that adorns the soul of Man
endows the Earth with precious gifts.
Puny though he may be, Man's mighty deeds
through the ages astound and amaze:
Enduring monuments built in sand and rock,
marble statues and golden temples
do deities proud and his progeny too
But after all, what is left of his immortality?

Oh, for a few drops of sweet nectar
from the cup of immortality
Man, any man would sell all possessions
for deep down he knows only too well
none that the earth holds means much to him;
what he truly wants and yearns for
is to live in youth's eternal glory
and sit proud and powerful with the gods immortal!


Claudio Wye