In the hour before dawn

In the hour before dawn,

when what remains of the warmth of the day

is at last overcome by the cold of the moon....

there came to me in a dream a woman, stammering,

with eyes asquint, twisted, with crooked feet,

with maimed hands, with sickly skin.

I stared at her; and, as the sun soothes and revives

cold limbs stiff with sleep.

so my gaze readied her tongue,

and then in just a little while

I made her tall and straight,

rosy-checked, sensuous, desirable.

Once her tongue was loosened. she began to sing,

so sweetly I could not turn away. She sang

I am, I am sweet, I am sweet siren,

I sing sailors astray on the sea,

I am so full of pleasure, so pleasing to hear.

I turned Ulysses from his path-

sang to him whoever stays with me

I satisfy in full, I sing, I bring him joy.