Arabella
Currie, commended (18-and-under)
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Archilochus
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Eclipse
There is not a thing unthinkable
not anything impossible
now that Zeus, or someone, has hidden
the sun in blackness like
a coin behind a thumbprint
and created
dark from light.
That midnight afternoon
came a mournful fear to every man,
a new belief in all things and beyond.
So let none of you see something strange
and wonder, not even when monkeys
swap with dolphins
learn to love their salty forest
swing from seaweed
arch furry fins
while dolphins
legless
revel on the mountain.
Translated from the ancient Greek by Arabella Currie
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[Commentary on the poem by the translator]
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