BIRTH OF APHRODITE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3995, 7 October 1930, Page 68

BIRTH OF APHRODITE.

Dark clouds hung low above the sea. Swollen with rain and pierced by lightning

thrusts That burst the heavy sky and brought the

storm. The ocean in travail was torn with pain

and moaned Against the shore, then unrelieved sank back into the deep ; The caves were filled and drained and filled again; Fishes and shells were dashed upon the rocks ; And on the waves the coarse sea-weeds Floated like tangled hair of long-drowned girls. The world lay tense with agony; The sea bore down, the womb was torn, And from the mist a naked form arose. White as the foam from which it came; The clouds were rent, the moon shone through. And Aphrodite breathed upon the bosom of the sea.

—Josephine Monkman Koke, in an exchange.