#mnemosynedeity

Mnemosyne

1881

Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882)

Oil on canvas

Delaware Art Museum

Lady of memories.

All this time, you have called to me,

And never did I know it was your voice.

During my obsession with ritual,

I thought, "perhaps Dionysos,

with his mighty cries of Iakkhe?"

When I remember my loves long gone,

I always think, "why, Aphrodite,

do you plague me with these memories?"

Every day, I sit hunchbacked to type,

Is it Hephaistos, who presses the switches

of my mechanical keyboard?

No.

I document what I hear,

And pass it on to other ears,

As it goes down through the years.

I create.

I craft the words.

And I profess them to other ears,

So my teachings may go down through the years.

I memorize the hymns,

As best as I can,

So that the mighty Theoi may be remembered,

As the years pass on.

And even now as I write,

It is with my right hand,

As I realize, all along,