A Thousand Ships Comments
Yes, Leda, you may swim
the pond with just your name on:
hang your tunic on an olive limb
and toss a crust to that swan.
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A deceptively simple quatrain that conceals a thousand complexities. The two comments below are a worthy bonus.
It is Homeric. Zeus (the swan) impregnates Leda, whence springs Helen of Troy, the Iliad, etc., and the famous line: Was this the face that launched a thousand ships? Bare-assed girl ignited the foundations of Western Lit. (See Leda and the Swan by Yeats.) Not much gets past you.
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7/25/2025 9:33:11 PM # 1.0.0
a nicely written quatrain