Greek Myth Poetry - Tumblr Posts

Call me a lotus-eater cause I'm about to deflower your girl

And in the end, is it not the desire for beautiful things that destroys us all?

~gold sinks easy, my poor king midas

and we barrel towards our end

hand in hand

grinning like children

moving too fast to feel our youth stripped from us by the wind

momentum carrying us

forever

And to be left eternally fading into silence over

And over

And over.

And to be left to waste away in the shadow of a man’s vanity.

~Echo speaks for us all

A boy tries to take

A photo

A kiss

A peice

Immortality

from the moon.

And she says

No

And the moon

Knows too well of

Mans' desire to

Capture and

Simplify beauty

That was not made

To fit

In the palm of a hand

Or

Under a pane of glass

Laid too close to skin

Suffocating.

Left

To collect dust

On the wall.

Just another galaxy of impossibility,

Tamed and

Framed.

And so

She is content to rest in poems

And in the gleam in lovers eyes

And in the path of midnight travellers.

At peace in the ocean of the night sky.

Free to slip back into the waves

At her leisure.

Dripping in wishes

Tossed into the well of the darkness.

Drowning in ethereal promises

Owed to

No one.

And in photographs she yields nothing,

Knowing all her magnificence

Will not be reduced to a pocket sized

Rendering of her infinity.

As though to say,

You cannot

Have me

You cannot

Keep me

You cannot

Recreate

My

Luminescence

By trying

To

Take it.

Did you think

I would make my

Cosmic unfathomability

Fit

Within 4 lines

For you?

Did you think

You could just

Take me home

With you?

Without

Asking?

As though to say,

Nice

Try,

Love.

As though to say,

In

Your

Dreams.

I lost track of the wounds

In the end

The only one that mattered

Was the one you gave me

In the end

The only one that mattered

Was you

In the end

It was the betrayal that slaughtered me

Before the blood loss

When your eyes sliced into my soul

Puncturing the vital organ

I was dead before your blade parted flesh

Ghost before my body hit the ground

~

In the end

My final breath

An exhale of your name

That still tasted like home on the tounge

My blood forgetting to be afraid

In your familar palms

~

But if I am spirit

Why I am the one haunted?

By you

Or some part of you that perished

With me

Begging for mercy

I do not know how to grant you

~

And if you lived

Why did I find you

Haunting your own shell

When I returned to

Forgive you

~

~And Caeser Thinks: If Betrayal Is A Kiss, I am Glad I Tasted It Last From Your Lips

peonies & pomegranates: when eve meets persephone

Persephone meets Eve standing at the edge of the underworld

A fist full of soil

Persephone says,

Hello there

Eve says,

I thought

I might be able to see them

In the end,

Again.

Her hands unfurl and

Let the dirt fall

You smell like them

Do

You

Know?

You smell like the flowers

Left behind

In Eden.

And Eve turns to look at her then.

And it has been many centuries

For them both

But

Persephone recognizes the never fading gleam,

The twinkle in her eye

Birthed only from

The glazing nectar of

Forbidden fruit.

A mirror reflection

Of herself.

Two women who chose to

Give in

Honour

Their hunger

In hopes of a moments reprieve

From being devoured by their own

Longing.

Persephone says,

You must be

Eve

Eve flitches at her own name.

Merely says

Nothing grows here

And Persephone understands

Her heartbreak

Says

No.

I am sorry.

And Eve flinches at that too.

Breathes,

No

Whispers,

No more

Apologies

Here.

I have lived a life time of

Repentance.

And I

Am done with

All this

Asking for forgiveness

For things we are not to blame for.

For things we are not sorry for.

Persephone

Still scented with Eden’s greenery says

I know

And Eve looks at her with

More ache

Than doubt.

Let’s the goddess assure her

That

You do not have

To be sorry anymore

Here.

And she takes the woman's hand in hers.

Smeared with the kingdoms

Dirt.

A handful of miniscule stones

Ground to sand.

Caught beneath her nails.

Persephone can feel

Life rolling off the

Girl

In gentle waves.

Even here,

After,

She ought to have been

Drained.

As though

The only way to

Take her

Had been instead,

To drown her

Completely

In the sea of

Existance.

And she

Was still

Dripping.

I did not want

To go back

To a gilded cage.

Even if the bars were wound

In vines

And blossoms.

I just

Missed

The flowers.

Persephone sits with her

At the edge of the underworld.

Says

I know

And Eve

Is tired of a lifetime of

Biting her tongue.

What do you know

Of wanting

Persephone?

A Queendom in Spring.

A kingdom come fall.

A million miles below the ground,

When the frost strikes.

Do you know what it is like to be

Cold

Persephone?

To be exiled?

To be

Unwanted?

And it is Eve.

No malice and all

Curiosity.

And Persephone wishes

She could give her

The answers

She needs to be

At peace.

I know

Much of wanting

And the unwanting.

Persephone looks

Up

To

The ground

Above

They blame me

For the plague of

Cold and barren land

And Eve knows too

Well

They blame me

For the plague of

A lifetime of repentance

And Persephone knows too

Well

For paying the price

Of my spent desire.

And their contempt

Drips

Acidic

Into the soil

Eve picks at the dirt

Beneath her nails

As though

She can feel

The burning.

And replies

As though to say

How dare you want,

Woman,

More than what we have

Permitted you to have.

Don't be

Selfish

Persephone finishes for

Her

Own heart and fists

Twisting

Curling

Into themselves.

And Eve

Goes on.

As though to say

How dare you disobey

What you were told to be.

How dare you

Attempt to become

More

Than we have let you

Be.

Eve looks at Persephone then

And it has been many centuries

For them both

But

Eve recognizes the never fading gleam

The twinkle in her eye

Birthed only from

The glazing nectar of

Forbidden fruit

A mirror reflection

Of herself.

I was only

Hungry

Says Eve

I know

Says Persephone

And I did not know

What could stifle

My appetite.

I did not know

What I craved.

Just that

I was starving.

And that

Nothing

Was

Enough.

And he came to you

In your instability

And they both know this story

By heart.

And he said

Eat, love

If you would like

Only

If you would like

And he dropped it into your palms

And she can almost feel the weight in her hands.

Where it once rested,

Before it was digested,

And left for her to carry

In the pit of herself

For eternity.

And it smelt of sweet possibility

Eve inhales.

Though breath means

Nothing here.

But she does it anyways

For the sake of

Nostalgia.

And he gave you a fruit

And I brought it to my own lips

And he gave you a choice

And I laid it on my own tongue

Peresphone watches her

Mirror

Knowingly.

And you chose

To bite

To swallow

The consequences.

And it hangs between them.

Tangible.

Ripe.

And ready

To fall.

The culmination

Of two seeded

Choices

And it

Drops

Into

Persephone's lap

Persephone's palms

Persephone's mouth

And you would do it again

And the fruit always looks deceptively

Delectable

But the nectar

Of the truth

Is always

Bitter

And Eve cups her hands below

The goddesses chin

And lets the golden syrup

Accumulate

And

Sips

Yes

I would

Do it

Again

And they do not need to speak

To say:

If I was given the chance

The choice

To save myself

Again

I would do it

I would take it

Over

And

Over

And

Over

Again.

Because

I do not think

I could ever

Be sorry

For being

Hungry

And eating

Until

I was full

And Persephone

Nods

Understanding

The all consuming nature of

The desire to

Know.

I do not think

I could ever

Be sorry

For choosing to live

Over

Survive.

I was never

Sorry

Even when

They punished me for

Knowing

For wanting

For being something other than

A good girl

A docile daughter

And Eve laughs

And Persephone is struck

By how much the

Sound tastes of

Fresh bloom.

Have they ever met

Mother Nature

She is

No

Soft

Or

Submissive

Thing

And Persephone smiles then too

And Eve is struck

By how much the

Image looks like

The creation of

A universe.

My mother

Warned me

Her breath is breeze after

Rainfall

To be wary of bitter men

And their sweet offerings

Her gaze is an ocean

Rippling reflection

And my mother said

It is a dangerous game to play

Persephone

She is

The symphony

Of life.

And my father said,

Listen to me, Eve

And my mother said

Come home to me

Persephone

Or their will be consequences

You belong here

In the sun

In the garden

In my gaze

In my grasp

And they both

Know this story

By heart.

Muscle memory

Fear

Hate

Rage

Longing

Stillness.

And I thought,

I belong wherever

I please.

And I thought

I deserve

To know.

I thought

I will not be afraid

Of the dark.

I thought

I deserve

To eat.

I thought

I will not bow to death.

And Eve is looking at

Persephone.

And the reflection

Is cracking.

And instead

He lowered his brow

To brush his lips

Across your knuckles.

And Persephone is looking at

Eve

And the reflection

Is shattering.

And instead

He bent a knee for me.

The glass is

Falling.

I do not know

What that is like.

I do not think

He loves me

Anymore.

And the silence

Aches for them both

How do you

Know?

And Eve

Considers this.

The quiet

Holds her

Softly.

I do not think I know

What love ought to be.

I do not think

The tree

Taught me

This.

And Persephone

Picks up

The shards,

Dew drops of light

Healing the image

Into a make shift

Mosaic.

Hands still gentle

When they brush away

Her doubt.

Love

Is

The way

The truth

Made itself

Soft

And

Sweet

For you,

Love.

Love

Is

The way

You choose

It

And

It Chose

You.

And Eve is

Not staring

At a mirror

She is gazing

At

The entirety

Of the universe

At once.

And the truth is

My lover

My sin

My salvation

That I was not

Naive

Or

Ignorant

Or

Victim

To a man's

Deception

And when I committed the

Transgression

Of

Making a choice

That was wholly my own

I did not beg to be kept

To be released

I walked out of

Paradise

With my head held high

Bid farewell to the

Light

And entered

The shadows

Let the gates shut behind me

And I left

And I stayed

And it was

My

Choice

And it is

In Persphone’s arms

That Eve learns

For the first time

Of what it is like

To be held

Other than as

Grudge

Or

Guilt.

And Eve

Is embraced by the universe

Until

At last

She knows

e v e r y t h i n g

sins & serpents: when medusa meets lilith

And Medusa seeks out a river the night after

Or a puddle

Or an ocean

Or a sheet or shard of

Glass

And in place of her reflection

She meets

Lilith

And Medusa

Is too tiered to be afraid

Anymore

And medusa asks

Who are you?

And lilith replies

I am

Whoever I would like to be

And Medusa asks

‘Then why

Would you choose

Of all things

To be my reflection’

It is bold of you to assume

Child

That you are not

The mirror image

Between us two

And Medusa does not laugh

‘Why are you here

In the river’

I am searching

For something

Why are you?

And the night was silent for a long time

‘I am looking for

An answer

I am looking for

My reflection’

And lilith grinned wide enough the water rippled and said

And perhaps you

Have found her

And from the water rose a serpent

Eyes darker than the midnight sky

Shining obsidian opals

And Medusa

Is too tiered to be afraid

Anymore

And all she can do is look

For what she came for

But it’s eyes are

Endless

Black hole expanse

Devouring light

And she finds no reflection

There

Her own snakes begin to wake

Shifting hisses interrupting the

Silence of the shadows

And the serpent smiles

They are

Beautiful

And Medusa looks at it for a long time

And knows the smile is the same

And the ocean raging inside her

Does not lend kindly to being voiced

Lest it should drown her on the way up

And out

And so medusa says

‘Why have you not been turned to stone

Yet’

And Lilith banks beside her

Pure white scales

And bottomless eyes

Slithering out of the water to rest

Beside her

You cannot

Set fire to

The flame

Says she

And Medusa looks out into the night

‘They are not

Beautiful

They are

A curse’

She speaks

Out into a universe that does not echo

And Lilith waits for the silence to

Solidified

Before snapping it

She has always liked the feel

Of breaking things

In two

A curse

And

A Blessing

Are only

Spells

They are only magic

They are only

What you make them

Out to be

They are

Your choice

A Medusa does laugh then

‘I do not know

What choice is

Anymore

I do not know if

I ever have’

And Lilith says

You are choosing now

You are always choosing

Every second still breathing

Is a choice

That you make

And you are wasting them

By treating them

As though

They are not

Medusa stops breathing then

For only a moment

And Lilith lets her

Because she too knows

How a moment without

Inhaling the world

And exhaling yourself

Can feel

Like an eternity

‘It does not feel very much

Like a choice

I would rather

Unmake it

If I could’

Says medusa

And Lilith winds her body

Into coils

Says

Once

I chose

To keep standing

It did not feel like a choice then

To simply be

But i was choosing then

Not to bend a knee

And it did not feel very much

Like a choice

And once

I made a choice to stand at the edge of a garden

And scream

And I learnt then

Of choices

And

Consequences

And once

Black wings bloomed from bloody back bones

And It did not feel very much

Like a choice

And i learnt then

Of how to make

Things

Choices

When it felt as though

They were not

Once

I made the choice to fly

With wings I did not ask for

And when the angels came

And offered to un-make the choice i did not choose

I chose to say no

I chose to keep them

Because I had made them mine

Because I had chosen to

Fly

And I learnt then

Of choices

And

Consequences

Lilith unfurls to reach the

Smaller snakes shifting softly

And she whispers of how

Once

I was exiled from the kingdom

Of Heaven

And I built a queendom in revenge

And isint it funny

My little reflection

How things become ours

If we choose

To make them so

Medusa stills

‘Is that how it works?

Is that why?

Did he choose me

Did he think that made me

His’

Lilith recoils gently

‘Do some peoples choices

Matter

More

Than others?’

And lilith hisses

Melodically

Moonlight glinting off pearled armour

You cannot choose

How others spend their decisions

But you

Can choose

To make them

Pay

and icarus f

e

l

l

for the

sun

and who are we

to blame him?

for tell me

what you wouldn't do

to be held by the

l i g h t

even if just

for a single

burning

moment

There’s something about the story of Orpheus and Eurydice that’s held my soul in a vise gripe since I saw Hadestown

And I think it’s the fact that the story is of course, devastating, but it doesn’t mean anything

Not to say that it’s meaningless, but that so many other stories in mythology are used to explain natural phenomena or take down histories or tell cautionary tales about what happens when you mess with the gods

No, in this case, it’s just a tale of two people who loved each other, and would go to the ends of the earth to save one another. It wasn’t about destiny or being forced down some awful path or making terrible mistakes and being filled with regret. At its core, this is just a story about love, in it’s most human vulnerability and strength.

I mean, think about someone you love. Doesn’t even have to be a romantic partner. I know, in my absolute core, that I would go to the ends of the earth and back and around again for my partner. I’d die for my sister. I’d live for my dog.

Sure, Orpheus walks the lonely road to hell and nearly makes it back. And maybe, sometime in history, there was a man named Orpheus who loved his wife and when she was taken from him, he followed, in one way or another, never to return. It’s not vengeance. It’s not destiny. In a way, it’s not even valor or chivalry or bravery. It’s just love. At its core, it’s just love. And maybe the people left behind honored that by telling their story.

So it is a sad song, an old tale. And we sing it again and again, because we hope that if someday we have to follow our lives into hell with no hope of returning, there will be some vestige of our love left behind.

So if I am remembered for anything, thousands of years after I have gone, let it be for my love.

I was here, and I loved, and I left with love, and I didn’t get to come back, so sing my song, in my absence, with love.

something about Helios-

gentle warmth of a sunspot from the violence of collision;

something about the experience of my mother-

i don’t know.

find the poetry in these broken pieces

like she always did

Young Apollo,

how your passion scorches.

Melting wax on a young boy's back;

Molten iron wreathing a lover's crown;

Your tears cannot extinguish celestial storms.

Blame that vengeful wind

though it did not throw the sparrow to the sea

nor toss the disk to the sky.

No, fate does not vindicate causation.

You did this.

Sing laments from afar;

Apportion your gift to others,

but don't let them spark.

Do not ask who is there to warm you -

the feathers are gone

(Ai, ai)

The flowers are all that is left,

and those can become ashes, too.

Don't you dare threaten their mourning.

The stars know everthing.

But do the stars know the way people love?

A person who loves someone.

A mess of imperfection, sewn out of flaws and fregments of mistakes, but a perfect smile.

Crooked, holding nothing but the truth.

Eyes capturing the death of a star, tragic, with beauty full of life.

Hands, which once touched the soft skin of someone, being able to hold someone in your arms like they were never anything but a place to rest.

Legs, which roam the holy ground, not holy because of deitis, but holy because its part of the universes.

A place which holds all the treasure ever known to humankind, known to any kind of creature.

A creature whos seen the horrifying beauty of life.

Breathing, laughing, crying.

Making friends and feeling lonely, holding hands while moving apart.

Life and death, a circle never meant to be broken.

But love wants to break everything which  makes it beautiful.

Romeo dying of the thought of seperation, Achilles killing for revenge, waiting for death.

Hannibal forgiving a sin not known to a deity, Apollo forming flowers out of blood.

A god creating birds out of pity, a love never meant to be.

I envy the stars for knowing a love like this, being ready to take death as a consequence.

Remember My Name

Dig my nails into my hands

Hope it leaves a mark

Cry like a statue a greek would create

Shattered to pieces in the house of a god

-

Laughing like flowers made by Apollo

Blood rinsing from petals, fault of love

Icarus flying too near the sun,

the sight of the lover above

-

Dying in embrace of him who i kissed

Holding me thight so tender

A last kiss with breath shaking so dearly

Hades, you know i surrender

-

My soul leaving my body, of life just a witness

But feelings like grief and joy?

I know I'm not immortal, but let the greeks die

So we alone can coquer Troy

-

Take my hand as we run towards the gate

A strike in my chest, spear of tree

Helpless falling like a kid

A pain of losing, him my beloved, the pain of losing me

-

My eyes shut as the lit fell down

Wood burning, passion in flames

Marks on my skin, hands in fist

Please, remember my name

Falling for Them.

As their hand reaches out to mine,

I could have sworn Michelangelo

getting jealous.

-

What was I worth to touch a hand like this;

the skin pale as marble and the finger caressing my palm,

tender as they mingle with mine.

-

A picture, Van Gogh could've never see.

A statue, the greeks could never create,

Picasso gasping in reverence, as I feel their skin.

-

A smile, the sun would envy,

a brightness Icarus could never reach,

Aphrodite leaving the throne of the muse.

-

And those eyes.

Medusa would be the one turning to stone,

Sappho, writing endless poems.

-

Their laughter soft as the clouds in the sky,

hearing it,

makes me wanna fly.

-

The waves on the shore creating a melody

which could never compete with their voice.

Gentle, lovingly and so, so warm.

-

The warmth of their arms which hold me safe

in the night of storm,

until we see the beginning of dawn.

-

Hephaestus would burn

if he touched my heart when I'm with them,

Prometheus never reaching the fire to steal again.

-

The love of a masterpiece hundreds of years

still there,

poets and artist, dying to see,

-

but they just look at me.

And they hold on to my hand.

As I'm falling for them.

You are a rose

You are a rose.

Born with spikes,

They hurt but

that's okay,

Because you are beautiful.

You are a rose.

A symbol of love

The painting of passion

Dyed red petals,

Of nightingales blood.

You are a rose.

Protecting the fallen prince

Bravery in his heart

Fighting for his people

The "hero" killed his love

You are a rose

A symbol of revolution

Banned by the wicked

Loved by the good

A gift from the dawn

You are a rose.

A symbol of death and youth

War and friendship.

Love and purity,

Unity, people

Since the beginning of flowers

You are a symbol of us

•

•

•

I was bored and I saw a rose