Minotaur: Part 1
There was a king in ancient Greece,
and Minos was his name.
His kingdom was an island — Crete.
Enormous was his fame.
In Athens ruled another king
he too — a mighty one.
And once he was the gracious host
of Minos' only son.
The lad was sent by Athens' king
to hunt a boar so wild
that with its deadly tusks it gored
king Minos' hapless child.
For such mistreatment of a guest
and to avenge his son
King Minos' army went to war
which soon the Cretans won.
To punish Athens and its king
the angry Minos said
that Athens would not be destroyed
if it would pay instead.
The payment that he had in mind
would make your heart stand still.
He wanted neither jewels nor gold:
of that he'd had his fill.
He said that every single year
they'd have to send to Crete
a youth from Athens, like his son,
the Minotaur to meet.
Who was the Minotaur, you ask?
He was a monstrous beast —
half-bull half-man. On human flesh
the Minotaur would feast.
King Minos kept the Minotaur
in an enormous maze
with many paths and dank dead ends:
you'd wander there for days.
But no one ever found the way
out of this horrid place
because the Minotaur was bound
to meet you face-to-face.
The youth that Athens picked to die
was a courageous lad.
His name was Theseus the bold,
and all his friends were sad.
He said: "I'll go and face the beast:
who knows, I might survive.
I've got to use my wits, and then
I will come back alive."
Copyright © Vladimir Tumanov | Year Posted 2019
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