O Dionysos Kerōntaios, I adore you,
you who make the streets into sacred precincts,
and transform the crowd from witnesses into participants
in the spectacle. I call upon you Joyful Stranger,
God of fantasy and the mask; invert what is false within me,
overturn the tyrannies of habit and unthinking conformity,
unseat the inner archons of fear and mediocrity.
Open my eyes to the vibrant beauty and boundless possibility of life,
the thrill of the unexpected, the terror of taking risks,
of being truly unfettered, the freedom of indulging in fantasy and play,
of acting out the parts of one’s self that normally exist only in dream
and shameful, secret imaginings. With you, Dionysos,
I cannot help but be honest; all the walls come down,
my carefully constructed personas crumble like brittle terracotta,
the arbitrary rules and structures that govern my life
are revealed to be hollow and meaningless at your arrival, my God,
and I long to take it further, to give more of myself to you,
Savage One who hunts by night,
and the best and nobler part of myself at that.
If I am to be a victim
of Dionysos the Devourer, the Eater of Raw Flesh,
I will strive always to be the best victim possible.
I will be more authentically myself. I will not hold back.
I will chase after my dreams, and believe in impossible things.
I will live fearlessly and free, taking risks no sane man would
so that I can stuff myself full of experiences to make your feast
more enjoyable. Hail Dionysos who turns things upside down,
who upsets the expected, who takes it to the extreme;
if I cannot trust in you, I cannot trust in anything,
so I give my life up to your guidance, counsel and judgment.
My heart is overflowing with love of you, Dionysos,
in all your forms and roles, and there is no part of you
that I do not accept and adore. Io Dionysos! Io io Dionysos!