Orphic Hymn VIII. TO THE MOON [SELENE]

Luna

Hear, Goddess queen, diffusing silver light, bull-horn’d and wand’ring thro’ the gloom of Night.
With stars surrounded, and with circuit wide Night’s torch extending, thro’ the heav’ns you ride:
Female and Male with borrow’d rays you shine, and now full-orb’d, now tending to decline.
Mother of ages, fruit-producing Moon [Mene], whose amber orb makes Night’s reflected noon:
Lover of horses, splendid, queen of Night, all-seeing pow’r bedeck’d with starry light.
Lover of vigilance, the foe of strife, in peace rejoicing, and a prudent life:
Fair lamp of Night, its ornament and friend, who giv’st to Nature’s works their destin’d end.
Queen of the stars, all-wife Diana hail! Deck’d with a graceful robe and shining veil;
Come, blessed Goddess, prudent, starry, bright, come moony-lamp with chaste and splendid light,
Shine on these sacred rites with prosp’rous rays, and pleas’d accept thy suppliant’s mystic praise.