I call to our rite the Hermes
who is Master of the games
of life and war, daring and devastating
Lord who wields the net and hunts
by moonlight, leading from the mound
a phantom host with baying hounds,
hungry for blood and terror. He wears a red
tunic and white Thracian hunting boots,
black cape and wolf’s head for a cap,
and as the ghostly God rides out a crow
and albino dog follow close behind.
The Giants fear him, and the Titans too;
all those in the Underworld bend the knee
when he comes to visit the Zeus Below,
and he’s always well-received in wine-rich Nysa.
So let us all greet and hail the savage Argeiphontes,
protector of our home and infallible guide
through the twists and turns of our labyrinthine lives.