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Aeschylus - The Complaint Of Prometheus
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PROMETHEUS (alone)

       O holy Aether, and swift-winged Winds,
         And River-wells, and laughter innumerous
         Of yon Sea-waves! Earth, mother of us all,
       And all-viewing cyclic Sun, I cry on you,--
       Behold me a god, what I endure from gods!
         Behold, with throe on throe,
         How, wasted by this woe,
       I wrestle down the myriad years of Time!
         Behold, how fast around me
       The new King of the happy ones sublime
     Has flung the chain he forged, has shamed and bound me!
     Woe, woe! to-day`s woe and the coming morrow`s
       I cover with one groan. And where is found me
         A limit to these sorrows?
       And yet what word do I say? I have foreknown
       Clearly all things that should be; nothing done
       Comes sudden to my soul--and I must bear
       What is ordained with patience, being aware
       Necessity doth front the universe
       With an invincible gesture. Yet this curse
       Which strikes me now, I find it hard to brave
       In silence or in speech. Because I gave
       Honor to mortals, I have yoked my soul
       To this compelling fate. Because I stole
       The secret fount of fire, whose bubbles went
       Over the ferrule`s brim, and manward sent
       Art`s mighty means and perfect rudiment,
       That sin I expiate in this agony,
       Hung here in fetters, `neath the blanching sky.
         Ah, ah me! what a sound,
     What a fragrance sweeps up from a pinion unseen
     Of a god, or a mortal, or nature between,
     Sweeping up to this rock where the earth has her bound,
     To have sight of my pangs, or some guerdon obtain--
     Lo, a god in the anguish, a god in the chain!
         The god Zeus hateth sore,
         And his gods hate again,
     As many as tread on his glorified floor,
     Because I loved mortals too much evermore.
     Alas me! what a murmur and motion I hear,
         As of birds flying near!
         And the air undersings
         The light stroke of their wings--
     And all life that approaches I wait for in fear.
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