Abstract
Hymn to Aphrodite Ursula K. Le Guin (bio) Venus solis occasus orientisque, Dea pacifica,foam-borne, implacable, tender:war and storm serve you, and you wearthe fiery tiara of the volcanoes.The young salmon swimming downriverand the old upstream to breed and dieare yours, and the fog-drinking forests.Yours are the scattered emerald half-circlesof islands, the lost islands. Yoursare the sunken warships of the Emperor.Yours is each raindrop of the vast typhoon,and the slow swirl of pelagic polymers.The depths below all light are yours.The moon is your hand-mirror.Mother of Time and daughter of Destruction,your feet are light upon the waters.Death your dog follows you down the beacheswhining to see the breakers breakinto blossom, into immortalfoam-flowers, where you have leftthe bright track of your passing.Pity your fearful, foolish children,O Aphrodite of Fukushima. [End Page 44] Ursula K. Le Guin Ursula K. Le Guin, born in 1929, lives in Portland, Oregon. A novelist, story writer, poet, essayist, translator, recipient of numerous literary awards, her recent titles include Finding My Elegy (new and selected poems) and The Unreal and the Real (selected short stories). Copyright © 2014 University of Nebraska Press
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