Poem-A-Day: Pindar, The First Olympic Ode [excerpt]

	August 4, 2012 Today's poem appears in The Complete Odes, published by Oxford University Press. More from this author Related Poems A Boy Juggling a Soccer Ball by Christopher Merrill Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio by James Wright Baseball and Writing by Marianne Moore Casey at the Bat by Ernest Lawrence Thayer Days of Me by Stuart Dischell You can unsubscribe from our Poem-A-Day emails at at anytime—either completely, or until next April. Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane Suite 901 New York, NY 10038 212-274-0343 academy@poets.org		The First Olympic Ode [excerpt] by Pindar translated by Gilbert West Chief is water of the elements; gold too, amid ennobling wealth, shines eminent, like fire, flaming in the night: but my soul, if thou desire to blazon combats, seek not, during day, any brilliant star, wheeling through the desert air, more radiant than the sun: neither any list, more excellent than Olympia's, (whence, to resound Saturn's son, proceeds the song of fame, framed by the poets' skill) can we speak, coming to the wealthy, happy mansion of Hiero. Share Digg StumbleUpon Facebook E-mail to Friend