Child Hephaestus
by MARY GRANT
ACCORDING to Greek myth, the god Hephaestus was hurled from Heaven for taking sides once in a quarrel between his parents, Hera and Zeus. He fell near the island of Lemnos. There the sea nymph Thetis cared for him in her caves, where, as Homer says, for nine years he practiced his art of making jewelry — “brooches, and twisted bracelets, and cups, and necklaces.”
THE boy Hephaestus stood and stared
When Thetis left him: a sleek cave,
With wrinkled walls that smelled of sea
And echoed low and murmuringly
As if the pulse of waves had gone,
Years past, into the listening stone.
Soft air was there. By some god’s grace
The sea stood back from that charmed place
In swaying curtains; but the sun,
Aslant through green translucencies,
Made shimmerings on the walls, and laid
On the smooth floor, with rushes spread,
A spotted leopard-skin of light.
When Thetis left him: a sleek cave,
With wrinkled walls that smelled of sea
And echoed low and murmuringly
As if the pulse of waves had gone,
Years past, into the listening stone.
Soft air was there. By some god’s grace
The sea stood back from that charmed place
In swaying curtains; but the sun,
Aslant through green translucencies,
Made shimmerings on the walls, and laid
On the smooth floor, with rushes spread,
A spotted leopard-skin of light.
His trembling ceased a breathing-space,
For, wonder to his widening eyes,
In a deep corner, charcoal-red
Briskly a little fire curled bright,
, With bellows, a small sooty pot
For solder, and a bench, a chest
Fashioned of silver. Crisply wrought,
At each bossed corner reared the head
Of horned sea-beast, with fluted crest.
Dolphins, with flirt of tail and fin,
Were graved along its sides in bands;
It stood wide open, and therein
Lay chisels sized to a boy’s hands,
Hammers, and twists of golden wire,
With files and burins, and a cup
Of sliding jewels, tilted up —
Sheets of fine silver, beaten thin.
For, wonder to his widening eyes,
In a deep corner, charcoal-red
Briskly a little fire curled bright,
, With bellows, a small sooty pot
For solder, and a bench, a chest
Fashioned of silver. Crisply wrought,
At each bossed corner reared the head
Of horned sea-beast, with fluted crest.
Dolphins, with flirt of tail and fin,
Were graved along its sides in bands;
It stood wide open, and therein
Lay chisels sized to a boy’s hands,
Hammers, and twists of golden wire,
With files and burins, and a cup
Of sliding jewels, tilted up —
Sheets of fine silver, beaten thin.
His trembling slowly passed away;
In gazing, he almost forgot
Echoes of hard Olympian laughter,
His mother’s scorn-chilled eyes, the frown
That shook the tangled thunders down,
And one swift searing bolt sped after;
For, on a jutting ledge of stone,
In a smooth seashell vase, a spray
Of deep blue seaflowers drooped. Like gems
Their oval petals gleamed; their stems
All misty-textured, glistening shone;
Their fragrance was an odor chill
Gardens of Zeus had never known . . .
He seized the slender pliers — bent
Gold arcs in deft accomplishment;
A light-looped bracelet swiftly grew,
Set with gold grains, with drops of blue —
The air was very bright and still —
And curious fish swam near to press
Round sucking mouths that seemed to stare
Against that magic curve of glass,
In awe at the small Workman there.
In gazing, he almost forgot
Echoes of hard Olympian laughter,
His mother’s scorn-chilled eyes, the frown
That shook the tangled thunders down,
And one swift searing bolt sped after;
For, on a jutting ledge of stone,
In a smooth seashell vase, a spray
Of deep blue seaflowers drooped. Like gems
Their oval petals gleamed; their stems
All misty-textured, glistening shone;
Their fragrance was an odor chill
Gardens of Zeus had never known . . .
He seized the slender pliers — bent
Gold arcs in deft accomplishment;
A light-looped bracelet swiftly grew,
Set with gold grains, with drops of blue —
The air was very bright and still —
And curious fish swam near to press
Round sucking mouths that seemed to stare
Against that magic curve of glass,
In awe at the small Workman there.
And a grave Nereid’s slant-eyed child,
Peering where waters swayed and dripped,
Shook back her tousled locks, and slipped
To tell great Thetis. Thetis smiled.
Peering where waters swayed and dripped,
Shook back her tousled locks, and slipped
To tell great Thetis. Thetis smiled.