A sudden blow: the great wings beating still

Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressed

By the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill,

He holds her helpless breast upon his breast.



How can those terrified vague fingers push

The feathered glory from her loosening thighs?

And how can body, laid in that white rush,

But feel the strange heart beating where it lies?



A shudder in the loins engenders there

The broken wall, the burning roof and tower

And Agamemnon dead.                                        

                              Being so caught up,



So mastered by the brute blood of the air

Did she put on his knowledge with his power

Before the indifferent beak could let her drop? 

Súbito golpe: as grandes asas a bater 

Sobre a virgem que oscila, a coxa acariciada 

Por negros pés, a nuca, um bico a vem reter; 

O peito inane sobre o peito, ei-la apresada.

 

Dedos incertos de terror, como empurrar 

Das coxas bambas o emplumado resplendor? 

Pode o corpo, sob esse impulso de brancor, 

O coração estranho não sentir pulsar?

 

Um tremor nos quadris engendra incontinenti 

A muralha destruída, o teto, a torre a arder 

E Agamêmnon, o morto. 

                               Capturada assim,

 

E pelo bruto sangue do ar sujeita, enfim 

Ela assumiu-lhe a ciência junto com o poder, 

Antes que a abandonasse o bico indiferente?