10.31.2013

A Foray Into Mythological Poetry

I've been fascinated by ancient mythological stories for as long as I can remember. My first exposure to mythology came at an early age in the form of a (likely pirated) videogame, Disney's Hercules. Then, in elementary school, I learned about Egyptian and Norse mythology, becoming enamored with the ancient Egyptians in particular, especially their peculiar hieroglyphs and intriguing pantheon. Throughout middle school, Greek mythology made sporadic appearances, but it wasn't until my 11th grade Humanities class that I got a solid grasp on the subject, thanks to our fairly in-depth study of The Odyssey and (parts of) The Iliad. The culmination of my academic involvement with mythology in general, and the Greeks in particular, came in the fall of my sophomore year of college, when I took a course on Greek mythology to fulfill a distribution requirement in Literature and the Arts (LA). Although we were assigned a large amount of material to read each week, I really enjoyed the class, earning one of my precious few college As and gaining an even more profound appreciation for Greek mythology in the process.

In contrast, my involvement with poetry has been considerably more limited. Although I have been exposed to (read: forced to read) copious amounts of well-known poetry in school, the only time I was ever invited to produce poetry in an academic setting was in 5th grade. In the "advanced" English class, we had a segment on poetry during which a certain Mr. Shahriari was invited to teach and encourage us to embrace our creative side. I really enjoyed working with poetry under Mr. Shahriari's tutelage, but unfortunately my poetic side went into dormancy as soon as I started middle school. Since then, the only poetry I've written has been strictly for romantic purposes (read: to impress girls). However, after a recent frustrating letdown, I decided to free myself from the constraint of the romantic context and resume writing poetry for myself, just for the fun and challenge of it. For your entertainment (and the enlargement of my ego), I'm sharing my recent compositions below.
[ I ]

Hovering loftily in the unblemished blue sky,
Eternally exuding luxurious golden rays,
Lovingly illuminating fields of grain and rye,
Inspiring bards to sing of your iridescent days,
O Helios, lord of the vast celestial domain,
Soothe my soul with warmth and ease my pain.

[ II ]

High on snowy Olympus, above the clouds and rugged peaks,
Expedient Hermes dwells. Esteemed by the gods for his speed and wit,
Resourceful and clever Hermes listens closely as Zeus speaks.
Memorizing perfectly the gilded words, he flies away with youthful spirit,
Effortlessly traversing the skies and rushing towards the realms of men.
Swiftly relaying Zeus' edict to mankind, he smiles and takes off once again.

[ III ]

Hidden in a dark hollow deep under the ground,
A dreary and sorrowful place reserved for the dead,
Depressingly devoid of mirth and melodic sound,
Echoing muffled cries and reflecting shades of red,
Sinister Hades' lair instills dread in the hearts of men.
Blood, the essence of life, is absent from Hades' domain,
Evaporated by desiccating death and turned to dust when
Life gasps its last breath. Hades' home is a palace of pain:
Overwhelmingly joyful memories of life tantalizingly replay
Within the minds of the dead, unattainable as the light of day.

[ IV ]

Powerfully gripping his mighty adamantine trident,
Overseeing the tumultuous waters of the murky seas,
Striking his three-pronged instrument to create strident
Earthquakes when his wrath falls upon unfortunate cities,
Ironfisted Poseidon commands mankind's respect.
Destroyer and defender, Poseidon grants safe transport
Over the frothy waves to those he chooses to protect,
Neutralizing all turbulence as they travel from port to port.

[ V ]

Drunkenly reveling in a surreal, divinely-inspired trance,
Immersed in an intoxicating and irresistible ecstasy,
Overwhelmed by a fiery frenzy, they take off their pants,
Nakedly acting out their every forbidden carnal fantasy.
Young Dionysus raptly watches the scene he has created,
Sighing with delight as his enemies are consumed by lust.
Unaware and persisting in their debauchery unabated,
Soon they will regain lucidity and drown in shame and disgust.
All of these short poems were written over the course of five days, one per day from October 20 to 24. I had initially planned to maintain a streak of at least 7 or 10 days, but my creativity was prematurely depleted by the mental and physical exhaustion of midterms week. I will likely write more poems in the near future, but I need some time for my inspiration to return. One last thing: take a close look at the first letter of each line.

--lbds137

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