jay

“O Dionysus, we feel you near,
stirring like molten lava
under the ravaged earth,
flowing from the wounds of your trees
in tears of sap,
screaming with the rage
of your hunted beasts.”
― Euripides, The Bacchae

“[Diontsos].
Swoony type,
long hair, bedroom eyes,
cheeks like wine.”
― Euripides, The Bacchae

“Come, God --
Bromius, Bacchus, Dionysus --
burst into life, burst
into being, be a mighty bull,
a hundred-headed snake,
a fire-breathing lion.
Burst into smiling life, oh Bacchus!”
― Euripides, The Bacchae

“Dionysus does not

explain or regret
anything. He is
pleased

if he can cause you to perform,
despite your plan,
despite your politics,

despite your neuroses,
despite even your Dionysian theories of self,
something quite previous,

the desire
before the desire,
the lick of beginning to know you don’t know.

If life is a stage,
that is the show.
Exit Dionysus.”
― Anne Carson, The Bacchae