I am the Unmarried Daphne: a poem from Faustus Sabaeus

I am the unmarried Daphne

I am friend to harp and bow [1] 

I provide visions to prophets [2]

I am an imperial honor. [3]

I am always blooming,

I can always repel lightning. [4]

Apollo wears my crown in triumphal ceremonies.

But: what if I hadn’t been so hard-hearted

To the man I rejected

To the man I fled?

I was pretty,

But a stupid girl

And powerless against him.

 

[1]  a reference to the different types of things made from wood from the bay tree 

[2] bay leaves were used in religious ceremonies during divination

[3] in Roman cultures, crowns made of laurel / bay trees were symbols of victory

[4] bay trees were thought to repel lightning

 

--Faustus Sabaeus, Picta Poesis Ovidiania

Innuba sum Laurus: Cytharis & amica pharetrae:

Somnia vaticainans: imperialis honor.

Usque virens, ac usque valens depellere fulmen:

Meque triumphail cinxit honore Deus;

Quem sprevi, & fugi, quid si non dura fuissem?

Pulchra, sed insipiens virgo, et inepta fui.