O Muse, grant me but strength to set these lines
Of torment and of woe onto this black
Depository of incessant song:
This tale of tears cannot abundance bear
Of stanzas, unlike Homer, Milton, Keats;
You will, therefore, need only exhale six
----Then gracefully glide back to your repose.
So, sing! dear Muse, of one whose epithet
Is white-armed, born to goddess and to god,
Yet destined ne'er to spend her full-time reign
In royalty, to drink ambrosia
Atop Olympus, highest of the mounts.
Persephone, Demeter of the earth
And Father Zeus had deigned a worthy name
For her; she grew secluded in the trees
And flowers of the green and bountiful
Elysian-like natural paradise.
A lovely day went flower-picking she
With nymphs a few, a gay and joyous sight
To gaze at----beauty joined with beauty more!
The beauty should have lasted.
But alack!
For suddenly the very earth broke free
And out roared fearsome coal-black horses four,
Behind them pulling darkness' chariot:
Atop stood Hades, eyes aglow with lust.
With one fell swoop of divine, pow'rful hand,
He grasped Persephone's famous white arm
And plunged back into darkness, black heart full
Of satisfaction at his newest prize.
Implacable Demeter quested days
And weeks and months for her beloved, yet
Her tear-filled eyes ne'er once beheld the sheen
Of her dearest white-armed Persephone.
As she went far and wide with heart morose,
The land, in sympathy, fell dry and grey;
No flower bloomed, no fresh new seedling sprang
From ground as arid as Demeter's heart.
The sun god Helios could stand no more:
He sent her word of what transpired then;
And she, with grave and fury-ridden soul
Beseeched dear Father Zeus to intervene
On her behalf. The people, too, were near
Complete extinction; Zeus----he had no choice----
Sent Hermes, the Olympian envoy
To bring Persephone back from the land
Of death.
Yet silent Hades' competent
Informants let him know what was to come
So that he might connive and not lose all.
'Tis said, once one has taken food or drink
Of that which grows but in the underworld,
Forevermore must he remain. Hades,
The unseen one, plucked from a nearby tree
A pomegranate, juicy, ripe, and sweet,
And gave it to his newfound queen: white-armed
Persephone, not knowing the nice rules
Of her own kingdom, lit upon that fruit
With such delight, she could not stay her mouth----
One bite was all it took.
When Hermes came,
He found the ringing voices of the Fates
Announcing, "Destiny has been fulfilled:
Persephone shall never from this place
Be extirpated!" Woeful was the heart
Collective of the deities on high;
With one exception, though he does not say't,
The silent one. Thus, Zeus no better could
Negotiate with the unbending Fates
Than keeping at Olympus nine months long
Persephone, and grudgingly bading
To her farewell for those remaining three.
The earth itself does mourn her annual
Departure; waters dry and leaves grow gold
In funeral procession decorum:
And then she's gone, and this attire too
----Awaiting the return of Spring anew.
--
英詩板 poetry
大老婆板 first-wife
第二者板 multi-lovers
第三者板 third-person
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--
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◆ From: 61.228.84.39
※ 編輯: spacedunce5 來自: 61.228.84.39 (01/18 23:04)