5 AXE ( RICHARD WILLES )
The poem is read in a clockwise spiral starting on the top line .
Σιμμιακῶς .
1 3 5 7 9 11 12 10 8 6 4 2
Triste mari velivolo , dum Notus atque Eurus , et horrens Aquilo procellis Conspicere praecipitatum in scopulos et brevia innatantem , Plurimus illi sit honos , plurima sit beatitas Sit celebris perpetuo Bipennis Per Vada fervida Camoenae Decus meae . Qua vehitur domum Carmine , quae prima ratim polivit , In patria , qui prior almam pelago ratim dedit . Luctiferum dispereuntis gemitum remigis aure condi . Turbine versant violento pelagus , littora dum fluctibus alma spumant ,
In reditu Moecenatis sui e Gallia . Securis .
After Simmias .
A sad thing it is on the sail-flown sea , while the South and East winds , and the North bristling with blasts , churn the ocean with a violent whirlpool , while kindly shores foam with waves , to see a man flung headlong on to the rocks and swimming in the shallows ; and for the mournful groan of the dying oarsman to be lodged in the ear . May he have the greatest honour , the greatest happiness in his homeland , who first gave the kindly ship to the ocean . May the Axe be famous in everlasting song , the one that first furbished the ship on which , through the seething Channel , travels home the honorand of my muse .
On the return of his dear Maecenas from France . An axe .
JPS
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