Mythic Love

With hesitant eyes Orpheus peered to see,

The glittering skin of beloved Eurydice,

But with that glance her soul did sink,

The memory of her sweet love, poured like ambrosia wine.

(I yearn for my words to drip like coveted honey)

Swept away by the hand of the wind,

Hyacinthus bled into lavender florets,

Apollo’s Spartan prince laid cold and gray.

For the god of medicine, there was no remedy.

(I yearn that my lovers will adore my broken body)

Craved Helen, splitting the lands,

Who Paris swiped for kingdom Troy;

Zealous infatuation toppling stone towers,

She lamented in a cage, no woman shall enjoy.

(I yearn for the soaring sensation of such mania)

Achilles woefully willed to Priam’s wild war

With Patroclus’ devotion by his side;

Though, now their bodies rest as one,

Two souls forever intertwined.

(I yearn for the bittersweet declaration of ‘forever’)

The jubilant youth, Persephone, spring’s daughter,

Unthawing the frigid heart of Lord Hades,

A wayward golden ray to him,

Though she need travel above to dance before the sun.

(I yearn that they may hunger for my presence)

Stories drifting through the eras

Until they float through my ears.

Love so persistent, persistently so vile.

These ancient tales bring out my deepest fears.

If I cannot love like each these figures,

Will my life, my story, linger?