Sphinx
OH! Sphinx of Oedipus. He - is a pilgrim.
Now lying in wait on the Path of Life,
Where implacably one must look him in the eye
Though he will allow none to pass beyond.
As it was before, he appears to us now:
The Pernicious Sphinx of Life to the Children
of the Old Times - with but one question
And its threat; half a beauty and half of a beast.
And those among us, believing in themselves
In vain, who do not solve his fateful riddle -
Who fail in spirit - will find not the young
Goddess’s mouth, but the claws of the Beast.
And while the path is encircled with human
Blood, and the land is dotted with bones…
Already, filled with their cryptic love, the
New generations quest to the Sphinx, anew.
1831
translated by Joshua Walker, 2018
