XXI
by Percy Bysshe Shelley
· (no date)
Published 01/07/1880
Part of Hymn to Mercury, translated from the Greek of Homer
We mortals let an ox grow old, and then
Cut it up after long consideration,—
But joyous-minded Hermes from the glen
Drew the fat spoils to the more open station
Of a flat smooth space, and portioned them; and when
He had by lot assigned to each a ration
Of the twelve Gods, his mind became aware
Of all the joys which in religion are.