A Nereid
Among the glaucous waves that kiss gold Tauris' beaches
I saw a Nereid, as dawn flushed heaven's reaches.
I barely dared to breathe, hid in the olive trees,
While the young demigoddess rose above the seas;
Her young, her swan-white breast above the waters lifting,
From her soft hair she wrung the foam in garlands
â drifting.
translated by Babette Deutsch and Avrahm Yarmolinsky
