CALLISTO AT NUNWELL HOUSE

Posted by Admin on 15 April 2008, 12:00 am

By Nunwell’s limpid pool she broods,
to ursine form as yet unchanged,
whom Ovid sang, Hyginus hymned,
and ethic Polygnotus limned
for Delphi.

Predestined for an astral role
with Arcus, her unhappy son,
Arcadian woods no longer roved –
here dwells a huntress, once beloved
by Zeus.

Callisto, by a god transformed
to she-bear, paid transgression’s price
for fervent love – a forfeit life,
exacted by a jealous wife,
Olympic.

Lycaon’s daughter, doomed to be
a target for unerring aim,
when Artemis, her friend, drew bow,
unwittingly to lay her low
as quarry.

Marmoreal, for all time safe
from malice or unlucky shaft,
now far from Cruni’s ancient well,
remote from Hera’s baleful spell
on Vectis.

T. C. Hudson

© T. C. Hudson.

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