I’ve heard that the head doesn’t hide the truth
in allegories but gives it to you
in speech as plain as peasants’ gossip.
Prepare for a voyage, Hupakoë.
Orpheus lives—or at least, lingers—
on Lemnos, that sandbar they say is an island.
Rowing through weeks of rough weather,
Hupakoë’s crew, craving stillness
beneath their feet, finally reached
sandy Lemnos. But the locals told them
they had recently lost their illustrious oracle:
after a snake essayed swallowing
the prescient head, Apollo conveyed him
to Lesbos, renowned for its lithe women.