Infinite Moirai, and listen to my prayer;
Who in the heavenly lake, where waters white
Burst from a fountain hid in depths of night,
And through a dark and stony cavern glide,
A cave profound, invisible abide;
From whence, wide coursing round the boundless earth,
Your power extends to those of mortal birth;
To men with hope elated, trifling, gay,
A race presumptuous, born but to decay.
To these acceding, in a purple veil
To sense impervious, you yourselves conceal,
When in the plain of Moira you joyful ride
In one great car, with glory for your guide;
Till all-complete, your heaven appointed round,
At justice, hope, and care’s concluding bound,
The terms absolved, prescribed by ancient law,
Of power immense, and just without a flaw.
For Moira alone with vision unconfined
Surveys the conduct of the mortal kind.
Moira is Zeus’ perfect eternal eye,
For Zeus and Moira our every deed descry.
Come, gentle powers, well born, benignant, famed,
Atropos, Lakhesis, and Klotho named;
Unchanged, aerial, wandering in the night,
Untamed, invisible to mortal sight;
Moirai all-producing, all-destroying, hear,
Regard the incense and the holy prayer;
Propitious listen to these rites inclined,
And far avert distress, with placid mind.