Penelope’s prayer to Artemis

8“Goddess august! Artemis, child of Zeus!
I would that you would send into my heart
A shaft to take my life, or that a storm
Would seize and hurl me through the paths of air,
And cast me into ocean’s restless streams,
As once a storm, descending, swept away
The daughters born to Pandarus. The gods
Had slain their parents, and they dwelt alone
As orphans in their palace, nourished there
By blessed Aphrodite with the curds of milk,
And honey, and sweet wine, while Hera gave
Beauty and wit beyond all womankind,
And chaste Artemis dignity of form,
And Athena every art that graces life.
Then, as the blessed Aphrodite went to ask
For them, of Zeus the Thunderer, on the heights
Of his Olympian mount, the crowning gift
Of happy marriage —for to Zeus is known
Whatever comes to pass, and what shall be
The fortune, good or ill, of mortal men —
The Harpies came meantime, bore off the maids,
And gave them to the hateful sisterhood
Of Furies as their servants. So may those
Who dwell upon Olympus make an end
Of me, or fair-haired Artemis strike me down,
That, with the image of Odysseus still
Before my mind, I may not seek to please
One of less worth. This evil might be borne
By one who weeps all day, and feels at heart
A settled sorrow, yet can sleep at night.
For sleep, when once it weighs the eyelids down,
Makes men unmindful both of good and ill,
And all things else. But me some deity
Visits with fearful dreams. There lay by me,
This very night, one like him, as he was
When with his armed men he sailed for Troy;
And I was glad, for certainly I deemed
It was a real presence, and no dream.”