Kevin Wald: Pied-Throned Deathless Aphrodite This is a slightly modified version (line 8 is different) of something I originally posted to sci.math during a discussion of pi mnemonics. It is simply a translation of Sappho's "Hymn to Aphrodite" in which the number of letters in each word gives the corresponding digit of pi. (The ampersand, of course, is a 0-letter word.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Now I pray, O queen Aphrodite on ornate chair, Sly, death-shunning thunderer-progeny, Devastate not my own emotions with aching or sorrow; Come the way formerly you, my plaints detecting, Heard & in hurrying downward left A begetter's mansion. A golden cabriolet You harnessed; posthaste did finches impel 't & Whirr winglets by & overshade Midgard From firmament down unto lower midranges of sky, & Arrived speedily. O milady, holy & eterne in splendor, Smiled ye & inquired wherefore lamenting resounds, Whence my distress, & For what, signally, I'm heart-mad. "Whom am I t' ensnare & seduce? Whoever currently troubles ye, O poet? Rebuffer & offering-dumper shall I set to pursuing ye now, & Giving thence many gifties; & transform now-unloving maid Into adorer (& unwilling wooer, maybe)." & Speed likewise to me now, I entreat; my heart set again Woelessly free, & whatever I so heartily wish achieved p.d.q., Fulfill that thing, & be Psappho's ally.