the Pythia

How have I perfected the smoky oracle-art?
I too often set on fire my credulous heart
and tried to read a nonexistent story.
When my core became cold and hoary
I finished cheating myself with these air-built hopes
and got a job in the Temple of Apollo on the Delphi slopes.

by TETIANA ALEKSINA
© All rights reserved 2015

18 thoughts on “the Pythia”

    • Michael, you made me blush 🙂
      Genius… Nooo! I just met here such talented amazing friends who inspire me again and again! I can’t restrain myself!

      For example, ‘the Pythia’ was inspired by the brilliant poem ‘Anxious For’ by my great friend M.Spahr!
      Do you know him and his beautiful blog? NO?? I’m shocked!
      You should visit it! It’s just ‘must read’ for everyone!
      https://mspahr.wordpress.com/

      Liked by 1 person

    • Truly? If so you have given me (each of us) something very precious. I read like Ry did, to learn a bit more of our inhaling Oracle. She is both of us sometimes, isn’t she?
      I love how you see. Our voices are incidentally our own similarly to Pythia transcending with winds whispering wisps. You teach me as much as you too inspire me. Thank you for everything! 🙂
      -and yes I received the start of our next big thing, I’m going to visit our singing rupture to carefully listen first though 😉

      Liked by 1 person

  5. “I finished to cheat myself with these air-built hopes”
    You really do know how to coin a phrase, Un. Cyan Ryan’s interesting response prompted me to look Pythia up too. And now I’ve learned something! 😀

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    • Thank you, Tony!

      Wow… ‘to coin a phrase’… I love it!
      Is it like minting of metal coins? Cool!
      We use similar terms ‘чеканить, чеканный’…
      ‘to mint a step’ means a measured, firm tread.
      ‘to mint a phrase’ means a crisp, clear speech.

      And now you’ve learned something else! 😉

      Liked by 1 person

    • I just keep on learning and learning and learning when I come here. I’m going to become the smartest guy in the room if I keep this up! 😛 Oh, and I have a confession to make… I looked up “to coin a phrase” and I’ve realised that I used it in the wrong context here. What I actually meant to say is that you have a way with words. I looked that up to make sure I had it right this time. 😉 (I guess I’m not the smartest guy in the room after all. Ha ha!)

      Liked by 1 person

    • I noticed that ‘coin a phrase’ usually means ‘be banal’… but I was sure that you didn’t want to say this one.
      So, I put away a dictionary and translated it with my intuition 😉

      Liked by 1 person

  6. Sad. I read part of the wikipedia page for Pythia, and get the vows they took, what they gave up. Apparently Dionysus’ tomb was in the temple too!

    I read this as well:

    “Carved into the entrance of the temple were two phrases, which seem to have played an important part in the later temple ritual: γνῶθι σεαυτὸν (gnōthi seautón = “know thyself”) and μηδὲν ἄγαν (mēdén ágan = “nothing in excess”), and an enigmatic “E”. According to Plutarch’s essay on the meaning of the “E at Delphi”—the only literary source for the inscription, there have been various interpretations of this letter. It has been interpreted as the first letter of ἐγγύα πάρα δ’ἄτα (eggýa pára d’ata) = “make a pledge and mischief is nigh”, In ancient times, the origin of these phrases was attributed to one or more of the Seven Sages of Greece.”

    Very strange, as I have mused on the letter E a lot, and Lord Byron wrote a poem on it:

    “A Riddle, on the Letter E”
    by Lord Byron

    The beginning of eternity, the end of time and space,
    The beginning of every end, and the end of every place.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

    • Thank you, Ry!
      Your meaningful comments always make me ponder 🙂

      Sad… yes. But I love light sadness.
      I beheld fuming incense on my yoga lesson and this poem just came to my head with the balmy smoky flows.

      Liked by 2 people

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