THE BUSH OF HELEN

[helenic]

Theocritus Idyll 18:

The poet describes how he and his mates run through the meadows gathering garlands of flowers in honour of Helen, whom they all fancy. The hang the flowers and wreaths of lotus-vine on a plane-tree as a sort of public ritual to commemorate how much they fancy her, even though she's married already. The poet worships her, and yearns in particular for her breasts, "as a new-born lamb yearns for the teats of the mother-ewe" (Hellenistic lyric poets: Dodgy Similes R Us). He anoints the soil below the tree with oil in some sort of symbolic love act, and then graffitis the bark of the tree in Dorian letters, which read:

(line 48) "WORSHIP ME, I AM THE BUSH OF HELEN."

Oh my god, I want that line tattooed in Greek above my pubic hair so very, very much.

Comments

[ifimust.livejournal.com]

The idea is wonderful. Whether you want to live with it forever is another matter, but the idea is wonderful.

Perhaps get it made into a stencil that could be used with henna, at least until/unless you decide to tattoo it? :)

[libellum.livejournal.com]

I can almost certainly say I'm not going to tattoo it. I'll paint a self-portrait of myself including it, instead ;) Instant immortalisation of an idea, without having to actually live with it on your body!

It won't be for a while though. I have an immense backlog of painting ideas.