Song of the Mytilenian Women, v3

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Song of the Mytilenian Women


Dressed in their finest linen, their ears and necks
spangled with gold and silver, the women of Mytilene
gather to form a chorus: hear them intone the words
of their black-haired chief                                             not crazy about word choice of chief, if you are referring to a priestess

as they imagine men in the place of the woman              lost you here; why are they imagining this?
their chief imagined deathless Aphrodite,                       should there be a comma after chief?  is imagined deathless Aphrodite being referred to?
the one whom they address, would return
to end her longing.                                                      again, a little lost here as to who is returning and why she (Aphrodite?) is longing

High voices reach the goddess, while the low
drone that ties the performance together
honors with its pre-verbal "Na" the goddess
who rules the dead.                                                    this stanza is wonderful, even if I don't fully comprehend the "pre-verbal Na" business

"Some say that an army of ships is the most beautiful
thing on this black earth", the chorus sings
to welcome those who return from the perils of vengeance
and the treacherous sea                                                   another fine stanza that is clear to me

while the infernal queen prepares for her return           Persephone's appearence seems to come from nowhere
to her gloomy realm, but now she sits
where once she roused her husband grant the wish           
of despondent Orpheus

with tears -- but now it is winter -- and the women               so this is some kind of winter ritual to bring back Spring?
must rouse the men help bring new life
to the city. "Come to us now", and their ode
transforms into a paean

as the chorus breaks up: the maidens start for the fields
where they'll weave crowns out of flowers they dried
over the summer, the wives march to their homes                 another word choice I'd revisit; "march" seems too strident
side-by-side with their husbands,                                         a fine stanza, love the details of the ritual

and black-haired Sappho joins the low-voiced crones
to the temples of their protector Hera,                                  something seems missing here before the "to", a verb of movement or singing?
their preserver Hestia, and their bosom-friend
Persephone.

River,

I really want to understand this poem better.  Perhaps a more specific title, for starters.  What kind of ritual are you describing?  I feel like a few more details would do it.  Or a preamble (even in prose) to give me a better launch into the specifics of the poem.  I really enjoy the subject matter and the details you've worked into the poem.  I am just lacking context, so I'm stumbling from the start.

TqB