metamorphoses
 

Frank Horvat - ©1996

DAPHNE

Mollia cinguntur tenui precordia libro,
in frondem crines, in ramos bracchia crescunt;
pes modo tam velox pigris radicibus haeret,
ora cacumen habet: remanet nitor unus in illa.
Hanc quoque Phoebus amat.
Ovidius         
(Metamorphoses, I, 549-552)       
Her tender bosom was wrapped in thin smooth bark, her slender arms were changed to branches and her hair to leaves; her feet but now so swift were anchored fast in numb stiff roots, her face and head became the crown of a green tree; all that remained of Daphne was her shining loveliness. And still Apollo loved her.


Il morbido petto è rinchiuso da una tenue corteccia, i capelli crescono diventando fronde e le braccia rami d'albero; il piede finora tanto rapido si conficca con ferme radici, come viso ha la cima dell'albero. Rimane in lei solo lo splendore della bellezza. Ma anche così Febo la ama.