Attis (H.D. Study #1)

The Os are losing me, man.

Try this out and see how it sounds to you

O mother,
do you dream of the almond tree
that sprang from the God?
Do you dream of the fruit
that disappeared into your breast
and fell into your lap?

O river-born One, O unknown One
do you dream of the light,
of the bridawn of her coming,
the spring staburning
into a coal?

from you
I inherit the tusk,
the petal,
the cone.

to you
I will come
in the robe of light,
in the chariot of my love. (this entire stanza doesn't sit well with me though. It feels out of place with the dark greens of the earlier lines)

I'm going to mostly second Gummy. This might be a weird part to single out, but I'm really in love with the third stanza; the phrasing is lovely and the not-quite-iambic meter sits just on the border of natural.

I think it's more a reflection of where I am right now that the first two stanzas do not hit my so hard. Though I will say they're burdened with these anapests (e.g. "do you DREAM of the LIGHT") that come across as a janky drawl.

I feel like this is almost a companion piece to "Priapus" (certainly the mythological subjects make a study in contrasts) and it might be fun to see even closer engagement with that work.