THE GOLD LEAVES

THE GOLD LEAVES THE GOLD LEAVES

(BEING AN ACCOUNT AND TRANSLATION FROM THE
ANCIENT GREEK OF THE ‘SO-CALLED’ ORPHIC GOLD TABLETS)

by EDWARD JENNER

You will ind a spring on your let in Hades’ halls

and by it the cypress with its luminous sheen.

EDWARD JENNER
actual size of gold leaf: petelia
Do not go near this spring or drink its water.
You will ind another, cold water lowing from
Memory’s lake; its guardians stand before it.
from ‘Petelia’ (4th c. B.C.)

The Gold Leaves is a study of ancient (c.400BC–300AD) verses, oten frag-

mentary, incised on fragile gold leaves that have been found (and con-
tinue to be found) buried in graves and tombs in the culturally Greek
parts of the Mediterranean world. These leaves have been placed care-
fully, perhaps on the chest, or in the mouth or in the hand, of the body.
The leaves are messages designed to guide the souls of the dead on their
journey to immortality and paradise.
Jenner has provided his own translation of a selected number of the
texts on the gold leaves. He brings his skill as a poet to these translations.
[ … ] For me the book is inally a book about poetry, about its potential and
its limits, about its “charm” (in the sense of magic). — Murray Edmond

ATUANUI PRESS A P