Resourceful Hephaistos, wise in the ways of metal
and stone, deviser of gadgets and useful machines,
inventor of contraptions and contrivances,
your talent is unequaled among the great gods,
your dextrous hands capable of any work.
With ease you take each creation from thought into
substance; effortlessly your ideas become real.
Clever you are, Hephaistos, greatest of engineers,
and yet an artist’s eye is yours as well. Beauty
comes from your sturdy hands; the deathless gods themselves
exclaim at your mastery, the shining jewels
and delicate metalcraft, gold and silver
worked as fine as spiderwebs, gems cut to glitter
like the eyes of a cat. Hephaistos, craftsman
who excels at all manner of good work, patron
of smiths and wrights and artisans, I honor you.