To Prothyraia ~ The Orphic Hymns
Hear me, revered goddess, many-named divinity (1)
You aid in travail, O sight sweet to women in labor; (2)
You save women and you alone love children (3)
O kindly goddess of swift birth, ever helpful to young women, (4)
O Prothyraia. Accessible to all, (5)
O mistress, you are gracious and fond of nurture, (6)
Yours is the power in every house & you delight in festivities; (7)
You loosen girdles & though invisible, you are seen in every deed (8)
You share pain, and rejoice in every birth, (9)
O Eileithyia, Freeing from pain those in terrible distress. (10)
Upon you alone pregnant women call, O comforter of souls, (11)
And in you alone there is relief from pains of labor. (12)
Artemis, Eileithyia, Prothyraia! (13)
Hearken, O blessed one, succour me, grant offspring, (14)
And save me, for it is your nature to be a saviour of all (15)