Antinous and Hadrian in Eleusis, September 21, 2012

Take Me To The Fire

Open the gate of Eleusis for me, O Torchbearer,
for I have come a great distance to this holy night.
Behold, I have made day into night and traded
the light of the sun for the darkness of moonless eve.

I have left the spider to her weaving in her web,
and the serpent’s fangs and the constrictor’s coils
I have avoided, so that I might make the passage
between two stones that will bring about shedding of skin.

Lethe is the spring that I will not drink from today;
but neither will Mnemosyne, beyond the white cypress,
provide me relief though I am parched with thirst–
these eyes cannot forget what they have seen.

I have passed through the Ogdoad of Infinites and their chaotic Hexad:
into the hiddenness of Amun and Amaunet,
through the formlessness of Heh and Hauhet,
amidst the darkness of Kauket and Kek,

within the abyss of Naunet and Nun;
I have become lost and wander the nowhere of Temen and Temenuit,
I have become filled with the emptiness of Niaut and Niau,
I have become engulfed in the night of Gerhet and Gereh, and have ceased.

Regions ruled by Blemmyae and governed by a Headless God
I have traveled through, where words are gold and feed the heart;
but I have come to the place of Triptolemos’ crowning
and the blessing of Demophoön for my reward on this day.

I call upon the Two Goddesses, Mother and Daughter, Deo and Kore,
kindly Demeter and gentle Persephone for my refuge–
may Hekate’s torches guide my footsteps into regions
where Melinoe’s half-face of honey shines like blessed summer sun.

In my final breaths before my death, I will remember this–
I have come to see the holy fire that I may not die,
that my soul may not die, though my body falls away the soul will persist;
I have come to pass through fire. Take me to the fire!