The Horses of Achilles

THE HORSES OF ACHILLES 

by

AGGELOS SIKELIANOS

 O Field of Asphodel, two horses 

Whinnied and raced along your edge, 

Their backs were shining like a wave 

As they came surging out of the tide And tore across the empty sand,

 Their necks were arched like breakers, high, 

Stallions flecked with white foam . . . 

Lightning kindled in the eye. 

They dove back in, wave into the waves, 

Foam into the foam of the sea, 

And then were gone. I knew those steeds, 

One had taken on human voice, 

And prophecy, a sayer of sooth. 

The hero gripped the reins and kicked,

 Driving onward his godlike youth . . . 

 Holy horses, fate has kept you 

Indestructible, and set 

Upon your foreheads black as night 

A charm against the evil eye, 

A great and blinding blaze of white!

(Translated by A.E. Stallings)