Near to the blood till I should first accost
Tiresias. He too came, the Theban seer,
Tiresias, bearing in his hand a wand
Of gold; he knew me and bespake me thus:—
‘Why, O unhappy mortal, hast thou left
The light of day to come among the dead,
And to this joyless land? Go from the trench
And turn thy sword away, that I may drink
The blood, and speak the word of prophecy.’
He spake; withdrawing from the trench, I thrust