Canto 8Sole in the meadows of Thebes
Book 14. Book IX
Sole in the meadows of Thebes Teiresias sat by the Dirce,
Blind Teiresias lonely and old. The song of the river
Moaned in his ears and the scent of the flowers afflicted his spirit
Wandering naked and chill in the winds of the world and its greyness.
5Silent awhile, then he smote on the ground with the stay of his
blindness,
Calling “O murmuring waters of Dirce, loved by my childhood,
Waters of murmuring Dirce, flowers that were dear to the lover,
Then was your perfume a sweetness, then were your voices a carol;
10Now you are dark to me, scents that hurt; you are dirges, O waters.
We are weary of sorrow,
Sated with salt of human tears; and the thron`ed oppressor
Seems not divine to our eyes, but a worm that stings and is happy —
Groans of the sad oppressed have no tone for our ears any longer.
15Death we have taken in horror, the anguish of others afflicts us
And with the pangs of an alien heart we are shaken and troubled.
Lo, I am torn by a woman’s sobs that come up in the midnight.