« Nice ride | Main | If it looks like a duck . . . »
May 6, 2005
Leda and the Swan
A sudden blow: the great wings beating still
Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressed
By the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill,
He holds her helpless breast upon his breast.How can those terrified vague fingers push
The feathered glory from her loosening thighs?
And how can body, laid in that white rush,
But feel the strange heart beating where it lies?A shudder in the loins engenders there
The broken wall, the burning roof and tower
And Agamemnon dead.
Being so caught up,So mastered by the brute blood of the air
Did she put on his knowledge with his power
Before the indifferent beak could let her drop?
- W.B. Yeats 1923
- Leonardo da Vinci, Leda, 1507
Posted by Neal at May 6, 2005 10:41 AM | Category: Poetry & Art
Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)