Etymology of Orpheus
If “of the river bank” is what the name
Of Orpheus might mean,* then that might flow
From jet slick River Hades and the shame
Of failing to recover, to the glow
Of life and sunlight, his lost love. Again
It might refer to two of his five deaths
When by the Helicon he felt the pain
Of females tearing out his final breaths.
That river sank to keep those female hands
From washing off his blood. The Hebrus saw
His head and lyre go floating past its sands
When he was murdered by the jealous claw
Of femininity. Some say the tide
That took him past all shores was suicide.
*Robert Graves
