19. For Zeus the Thunderbolt

Father Zeus, racing through the high flame-bright
course of the cosmos, casting from the air
the highest flashes of lightning, shaking
the most blessed foundations with divine
thunderbolts, setting the swells of storm clouds
aflame with scorching forks of lightning—you
throw cyclones, storms, wild rain, mighty lightning.

In red riots, blanketing with arrows
blazing, all-mighty, horrid, strong-hearted,
the feathered, terrible weapon makes hearts
shake and hair stand in sudden thunder,
unvanquished awful arrows, in cyclones
of endless whistling, all-consuming rage,
the heavy, unstoppable, adamant
sharp bolts of the heavens you throw down from
the sooty hurricane, which has made earth
and the sea tremble in fear at the flash.

And the beasts cower when the crash pierces
their ears; the lightning dazzles their faces
in beams, crashes from hollows in the air.
You’ve torn the chiton of heaven, its veil,
and you throw bright lightning; but blessed one,
[throw down heavy] rage to the waves of the sea
and the peaks of the mountains; we all know
your might. You rejoice in the libations.

Give all things the gods endorse to the heart—
a life of happiness, together with
royal health, and divine peace, nurturing
the youth, and shining honor and a life
always growing with kindly reasoning.