Oedipus (1896)

Written after reading the description of the painting Oedipus and the Sphinx by Gustav Moreau

The Sphinx has fallen on him
with her teeth and nails outstretched,
and all the savagery of life.
Oedipus collapsed beneath her first assault,
her first appearance terrifying him -
he'd never dreamt of such a form or
such a voice 'til then.
But though the monster rests
her paws upon his chest,
he quickly pulls himself together - and he
isn't frightened any more, because he's got
the answer ready, and will triumph.
Yet he takes no joy in victory.
His melancholy-laden gaze is not
upon the Sphinx, but far away, upon
the narrow road which leads to Thebes,
and which will finish at Colonus.
And in his mind a clear foreboding
that the Sphinx will speak to him again
with riddles that are vaster, and more
difficult, and answerless.

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