V THE OLD MAN AND THE NYMPHS
Mitchell S. (Mitchell Starrett) Buck translation
A BLIND old man lives upon the mountain. For looking upon the nymphs, his eyes have been dead for a long time. And, since, his happiness is a distant memory.
“Yes, I have seen them,” he said to me; “Helopsychria, Limnanthis; they were standing near the bank of the green pool of Physos. The water sparkled higher than their knees.
“Their necks inclined beneath their long hair. Their nails were thin as the wings of grasshoppers. Their nipples were hollowed like the cups of hyacinths.
“They trailed their fingers upon the water and drew up, from an invisible vase, the long-stemmed water-lilies. Around their parted thighs, the ripples slowly widened.”