Poetry Friday Crickets and Cicada

Cicada emerging from shell in our back yard.

As summer winds down, the sounds of crickets and cicada will soon be behind us. This week I offer two ancient poems.

They are credited to a Greek-speaking native of ancient Syria by the name of Meleager. More information can be found at the following site (where I found the poems):

http://www.insects.org/ced3/cicada_ancgrcult.html

The Cicada to the Cricket
O cricket, you who soothe my passion and provide the consolation of sleep;
O cricket, shrill-winged rustic Muse;
You natural imitator of the lyre, sing for me some poignant song
As you tap with your charming feet and strum your loquacious wings,
So as to relieve me from toilsome worry that completely deprives me of sleep
As, o cricket, you spin out a song that dispatches Eros.
Then I shall give you as gifts, first thing in the morning, an evergreen leek
Along with dewy droplets that I separate with my mouth.

The Cricket to the Cicada
O resonant cicada, drunk on dewy droplets.
You sing your rustic song that sounds in lonely places.
Perched with your saw-like limbs, high up among the leaves
You shrill forth the lyre's tune with your sun-darkened body.
But, dear friend, sound forth something new for the woodland nymphs,
A divertissement, chirping a tune for Pan as the song which you sing in your turn,
So that I, escaping from Eros, can catch some noon-time sleep
While reclining there under the shady plane tree.

Poetry Friday is being hosted at:

http://wildrosereader.blogspot.com/

Thanks to Elaine Magliaro for hosting this week!