Ballade: Legacy
Within a stalk of fennel hid,
Prometheus took fire for
some poor ancestral hominid,
infuriating Zeus in lore.
Our forbears lived by nature's law
and myth to truth is paradox,
yet when they cooked their food from raw,
they travelled paths unorthodox.
Zeus fashioned clay in counterbid,
first woman, cursed with moral flaw.
Pandora batted sweet eyelid,
Prometheus refused, wherefore
Zeus chained him, while an eagle tore
his liver flayed upon the rocks.
When Titan sought mankind's rapport,
he travelled paths unorthodox.
Zeus gave a jar and then forbid,
Pandora look into it's maw.
Of course, she peeked inside the lid
and helpless, watched the ills outpour.
Does hope remain for us in store?
the vessel, be it jar or box.
When prying led her to explore,
she travelled paths unorthodox.
Shall we live happy evermore?
our bodies shaped by boon and pox.
Will future beings add encore?
They travelled paths unorthodox.
poem by Diane Hine
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A Gift From Prometheus To Mankind
In Greek Mythology there are many legends,
written about the cruelty, vindictiveness of the gods.
Zeus and the other gods in their petty jealousy,
rivalry often punished, sacrificed men like pawns.
Before the rule of Olympian Gods other Gods ruled.
These were the powerful Titans, the mighty elder gods.
Prometheus was the noblest of the sons of Uranus and Gaia.
Titans all three! Prometheus an arch-rebel and friend to man!
Prometheus belonged to the powerful race of Titans!
The powerful Titans, were cousins to the Olympian Gods,
whose constant hostility to man, Prometheus opposed!
Prometheus gave the wondrous gift of fire to man!
Hearing of this, in a rage Zeus, ordered Prometheus,
seized punished imprisoned; bound by steel chains!
Prometheus was bound to a rock!
On a mountain peak, in the Caucasus,
mountains at the edge of a stream!
Near an Ocean in a place where it snows perpetually!
Where the wind ever howls ceaselessly,
because he had given a gift, mighty fire to mortal man!
Prometheus was sentenced to spend eternity!
Suffering miserably chained to a rocky crag,
with two vultures hovering, near tormenting him!
These two vultures cruelly feasted upon man’s!
Titan friend Prometheus! Tearing at,
his meal exposed belly; eating his living liver!
The ancient Greeks had another version of this,
cruel torture, in which an eagle, the offspring of;
Echidan and Typhon, eats his flesh encased liver!
The great terror of this raw tragedy, is that immediately
after, the eagle eats, consumes Prometheus’
liver; his liver would continually renew itself overnight!
Zeus would always cruelty vindictively!
Send this eagle every day!
To gnaw at, poor prisoner Prometheus’
liver, which is eaten in agony!
But would grow whole again!
Every night because Prometheus!
Being a Titan was immortal!
This story is amazing but merely a myth!
A true story about a real
all powerful God a real immortal,
is a miracle, proving our
Creator’s, love for his humanity!
poem by Terence George Craddock
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Zeus
Zeus has a normal life
Two children and a loving wife
Yet he feels his days crappy
He never is really happy!
Zeus likes his wife on his side
And when the children on his shoulder ride
Yet he feels he’s missing something
In nothing of these he’s getting the zing!
Zeus’ head wants to remain rational
But down there pricks the monster carnal
Goading him to break free
Telling him ‘you are not happy’!
Zeus after a prolonged strife
Breaks the shackle blows the fife
Other women with madness he hounds
Crazed with the blindness this world abounds!
Zeus wakes up to the riddle at last
That happiness cannot come out of lust
It’s always there in a normal life
Two children and a loving wife!
poem by Pradip Chattopadhyay
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A Road Well Travelled
A road well travelled does not the journey ease
Nor do well placed signposts aid our itineraries
A road well travelled is rough and rutted where
Others have passed by this way overburdened with their cares
A road well-travelled may be full of risks and dangers
You keep yourself unto yourself and never talk to strangers.
This road well travelled has no final end in sight
It can be sunny in the daytime but quite frightening at night
This road well travelled can sometimes just disappear
And you stop not knowing where to go shivering with fear
This road well travelled sometimes returns you to its start
And leaves you walking round in circles with a sad and heavy heart.
My road well travelled has many toll gates on the way
Each time I ask directions there’s a need to always pay
My road well travelled is a lonely road at times
It is a real road that I know it’s not just a state of mind
My road well travelled is not just my road you see
It’s a road that many others take and it’s called anxiety.
poem by David Keig
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Roads Less Travelled
Roads less travelled
are the most interesting of all
their paths overgrown
and their beauty untouched.
They stand alone to be rediscovered
for the wonderment they hold.
Wild things grow unmolested
with the protection they deserve.
The roads less travelled
capture a beauty of their own.
8 August 2009
poem by David Harris
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Don't Sympathize
Why I detest sympathy
It revives hurtful memories
Those days that are sad,
Let them go with my past.
Don't remind me of my misery
They are now my history
Those friends I have hurt
I am human, I was only wrong
Even Olympus knew no love
Zeus lived in sexual lust
Hera was too jealous
Prometheus should rule Olympus
Zeus should be chained
For goodness sake, let him wail
Tiresias should not be so blinded
Oedipus shouldn't have left
Lius should have abdicated
And his throne coveted,
The Sphinx shouldn't have
had a riddle
She should be a pawn in our fiddle.
These are histories
They shouldn't conflict with
our mysteries
They should be buried in
the tomb of Herodotus.
And today, I am glad we have a God
Who's world itself is love;
And we all know He's perfect in all.
In my life I had never been an epigone
But great men have inspired me
To them I will forever be grateful
And to my God, I'll be faithful.
poem by Efe Benjamin
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Love Sonnet 25 Help, Hercules! An eagle tore a part,
Help, Hercules! An eagle tore a part,
From my poor liver, swooping from above,
Nay, not my liver, but rather my heart,
And she seems an eagle not, but a dove;
She once did at my table ate, as guest,
Zeus had bade, that nary should she mistreat,
Heart that offered all, host no one can best;
But folly, that his heart would so entreat;
For so like Syrinx, she runs really fast,
I am not like Pan, my breath would have puffed,
When there came a time, to hold her, at last,
She was turned to reeds, such a clumpy tuft;
.....But Oh, this heart been slow to comprehend,
.....And so much slower, when it goes to mend.
.
poem by Reyvrex Questor Reyes
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I'd Wish You'd Gone With Me
I'd wish'd you'd gone with me
When I travelled a road by the sea
with farset eyes and firmset heart aflame
I knew you couldn't be to blame
But be it all the same
I'd wish'd you'd gone with me
When I travelled that road by the sea.
I'd wish'd you'd heard the ocean's song
For then you'd know where you belong
For the sea it sang to me
with waves that rang so free
and in that surf I could see
I'd wish'd you'd gone with me
when I travelled that road by the sea
poem by T.A. Rosenbaum
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Two Fossil Flow'rs
Hast thou been enamored before Zeus?
were thee an aunt of grandma Medusa?
Was thy amor' beyond the ocean, thus?
A strong worker with his hydraulic press,
thy ancient chastity became his musa,
Hast thou been enamored before Zeus?
Were thee submitted to his solid bless?
before time thou appeared as Arethusa;
Was thy amor' beyond the ocean, thus?
Neanderthals were apt to just depress;
when thy wish was to abide in Syracusa;
Hast thou been enamored before Zeus?
Thy flock of boars value was to assess;
were thee in love with a robust bab'rusa
Was thy amor' beyond the ocean, thus?
Two fossil flow'rs decided to coalesce;
and thee reigned on glorious Lamp'dusa
Hast thou been enamored before Zeus?
Was thy amor' beyond the ocean, thus?
poem by Giorgio Veneto
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3. A Tall Story
I built myself a time machine
And travelled to the past
Where dinosaurs looked hungry
So my visit didn’t last
I travelled to the future
Where food came in a pill
But apple pie with gravy on
Just didn’t fit the bill
I came back home to present day
Where animals are smaller
And if you want an ice-cream
Here food looks so much taller
poem by David Threadgold (2008)
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Paths 2
Some paths lead to dead ends,
some lead to pastures new,
but whatever path you take
it is always up to you.
Some paths are filled with beauty
colourfully decorated on either side.
Some paths are not so cheerful
and gloom hangs from every branch.
Some paths are well worn
where many feet have gone through.
Some paths have not been ventured on
and these always hold something new,
but whatever path you take
it is always up to you.
26 October 2009
poem by David Harris
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The Paths
The path to destruction is invisible,
It is travelled on by the wise,
Giving an enterprise to behold,
Like a gesture too meek.
The paths are long and hard,
In one complete stroke you have moved,
In a single movement the damage is received
As the paths lead to roads leading to fatigue.
This path we allow on the rest of the world
Is narrow and far too long to achieve,
Success needed wending like a path,
A meandering path carried a difference.
Only a road is higher than a path
For it is tortuous in a full condition,
Its heavenly splendour is exciting
Like the eating of apples attached to a tree.
poem by Naveed Akram
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Will The Truth Come Out One Day?
Will the truth come out one day?
Is what has happened wrong?
Our paths crossed in a funny way
To you I have nothing to say
But with you it's our secret all along
Will the truth come out one day?
If caught, a bad mood you'll display
But our concealing is strong
Our paths crossed in a funny way
I feel bad 'cause with you I didn't stay
But we weren't seeing each other for that long
Will the truth come out one day?
I'm glad it was under you I lay
Because my feelings for him have gone
Our paths crossed in a funny way
From this will I have to pay?
But i'm glad this is still going on
Will the truth come out one day?
Our paths crossed in a funny way
poem by Kerry Folkes
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Make new things to be great
Go where paths may lead.
Also go where there are no paths
To give others new paths.
The great men have done like that.
27.06.2007
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
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I do not believe that the men who served in uniform in Vietnam have been given the credit they deserve. It was a difficult war against an unorthodox enemy.
quote by William Westmoreland
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Rape Of Europa
Zeus finds Europa playing with her hand––
handmaidens some say, pulling wool
over eyes of people who demand
that she be modest. As a bull,
Zeus comes to her, and she spreads wide her legs,
experiencing rapture she has not
experienced with her hand and begs
for more. They call this rape. What rot!
Inspired by Titian's “Rape of Europa” at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
11/26/08
poem by Gershon Hepner
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I See You've Travelled Some
Wherever you may chance to be — wherever you may roam,
Far away in foreign lands; or just at home sweet home;
It always gives you pleasure, it makes your heart strings hum
Just to hear
The words of cheer,
'I see you've travelled some.'
When you get a brother’s greeting, and he takes you by the hand,
It thrills you with a feeling that you cannot understand,
You feel that bond of brotherhood, that tie that’s sure to come
When you hear him say
In a friendly way
'I see you've travelled some.'
And if you are a stranger, in strange lands all alone
If fate has left you stranded, dead broke and far from home,
Oh, it's a grand and glorious feeling, it thrills you; makes you numb,
When he says with a grip
Of fellowship,
'I see you've travelled some.'
And when your final summons comes, to take a last long trip,
Adorned with Lambskin Apron White and gems of fellowship —
The Tiler at the Golden Gate, with Square and Level and Plumb
Will size up your pin
And say 'Walk In:
I see you've travelled some.'
poem by Edgar Albert Guest
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Diverging Paths
I took the road less travelled by.
Impelled by curiosity
Simply because I wondered why.
It was disused apparently.
I chose it voluntarily
Although the path was overgrown
With brambles which would hamper me
Almost as if deliberately.
It may well be if I had known
I would have chosen differently.
Instead of venturing alone.
How quickly past the years have flown.
Since I had a choice to make
Which of the two paths I should take.
poem by Ivor Or Ivor.e Hogg
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We Are But Mere Paths
we are but mere paths
where their shoes tread upon us
their umbrella tips their staff
they all touch our surfaces
during the rain
the waters run the drain
and we become not just the paths
of their stamping and running feet
we become their canals
we move through histories of men
we are their paths and their canals
we let their blood flow through us
we remain faithful to this tasks
taking glimpses of the face of God
we face the heavens
we believe in the falling of the stars
we are but paths
all histories of men's feet walk upon us
we are but the grasses
we bury their carcasses
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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A Sleep of Dreams
Travelled road ~ rough and worn
I've walked with ease on many morn
Down your path of known delights
I've trodden through on many nights
To sleep a dreamless sleep
My footsteps echo not within
Within the paths where I have been
Oh, how I crave my soul's respite
To dream of life within this night
To sleep a sleep of dreams
Oh, travelled road ~ you're all I've known
But fever deep inside has grown
To walk the walk that others might
And realize a dream tonight
To sleep a sleep of dreams
This trodden path is worn and long
Each day does bring a seasoned song
That's sung till light has turned to night
And dulls the life with no delight
To sleep a dreamless sleep
I see a field of emerald green
No foot has passed ~ nor ever been
Down unseen path toward dawning light
I'll stay until the sweetest night
To sleep my sleep of dreams....
poem by Hazelmarie Elliott
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Prayer
Lord, let us pray.
Give us the open mind, O God,
The mind that dares believe
In paths of thought as yet untrod;
The mind that can conceive
Large visions of a wider way
Than circumscribes our world to-day.
May tolerance temper our own faith,
However great our zeal;
When others speak of life and death,
Let us not plunge a steel
Into the heart of one who talks
In terms we deem unorthodox.
Help us to send our thoughts through space,
Where worlds in trillions roll,
Each fashioned for its time and place,
Each portion of the whole;
Till our weak minds may feel a sense
Of Thy Supreme Omnipotence.
Let us not shame Thee with a creed
That builds a costly church
But blinds us to a brother's need
Because he dares to search
For truth in his own soul and heart
And finds his church in home and mart.
Give us the faith that makes us kind,
Give us the open sight and mind-
O God, the open mind
That lifts itself to meet the Ray
Of the New Dawning Day:
Lord, let us pray.
poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
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