Khalkeia Hymn

When I was born from my father's brow
A bright and terrible Goddess
It was your hand that wielded the axe
You who served as midwife
To mighty Zeus's agony

As I danced I knew you watched me
Olympus shook and Helios reeled
And it was no surprise that you asked
For my hand, or the Golden Kyprian's,
As ransom for your mother's torture

I envy your dove wife
Who prefers to take bloody battle
To Her bed and bosom
When your hands are the most skilled on Olympus
And your fire burns hottest

You always knew I would come
Come down into your forge
The center of your creative fire
To beg a new set of armor
And to flash my quicksilver eyes at you

You had been waiting for me
Had built me a bedchamber of bronze
A marriage bed of wool
Virgin though I am
You took me in the heiros gamos

They say I scorned you
That I thrust you from me
And abandoned your seed to earth
Mother I am to your child
Yet virgin I remain

And still I come to you
Each year just before the time
Of Zeus the Storm Bringer
I take the bronze key from my aegis
And enter the khalkeia