Cytherea

Three drops of blood from the span of the sky
Fell into the wide aqua sea,
And were washed in circles, by and by,
To shores of Cyther where the winds blow free.
And there, in water shaded by a bright tree,

There, most beautiful of all the gods,
She came forth with the west wind in her hair.
With silver spindrift her soft feet were shod;
Wild her sea-green eyes, and sweetly fair,
As she stood between the water and the air.

Her hair glinted golden as brilliant sunbeams,
And her skin was as white as the foam.
Grace spilled from her like the song of dreams.
As she stepped to the shore of Cyther her home,
She was like the glide of Sappho's poems.

A soft silken breeze was the first to whisper
Of the beauty newcome from the seas.
The forests had all been dreaming of her,
And a wordless prophecy swept through the trees,
That she had come to bring content and heart's ease.

The Graces came to clothe her themselves,
In garments fashioned of summer and light.
They danced around her like fairies or elves,
Half awed in her presence, half mad with delight,
For her very presence made the world bright.

But who can say what of the blood on water
Was still within her, though love like wine
Flowed forth smoothly from Uranus's daughter?
Goddess of beauty, Aphrodite divine,
Was born from blood and foam in time when stars shine.