Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry. 1904.
Poems of Sentiment: II. LifeFortune
Sophocles (c. 496–406 B.C.)From the Greek by Richard Garnett
’T
Swayed in capricious instability,
Most like the moon, whose ceaseless wax and wane
Cannot two nights the self-same form retain;
Viewless at first, then a dim streak revealed,
Then slow augmenting to an argent shield;
And when at length to fair perfection brought,
Diminishing and dwindling quite to nought.