Since Zeus to bliss these eyes unsealed;

The feast of quivering flesh I shared

While through the dark strange thunder pealed.

The Mountain-Mother heard my vows,

And saw my torch the darkness ride;

The Hunter named me for his priest,

A mail-clad Bacchant sanctified.

Now robed in white I keep me pure

From food that e’er has throbbed with breath;

I shun the new-born infant’s cry,