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Self-Knowledge

Oh, Apollo,* son of Zeus, How could, a simple man as I, your divine command- to know myself- Will ever be able to realize When Fruitless, so far, any efforts of mine have turned out to be, Even though- ashamed I am to confess- decades many have already passed, Wandering on these planes of oblivion without any Tangible answers whatsoever to produce? I swear to you, divine Apollo, that All this time I have been waiting for a ray of your light to come, A sign, from your part, to guide me out of the labyrinth of ignorance, onto the Road of understanding and to direct me your enigmatic maxim Correctly to decipher Tell me, oh God of poetry, Is there a secret way to lead me into the knowledge of myself? A mystic experience of some sort, perchance? An epiphany that the truth to me could be revealed Or The quest for knowledge of me should be, perhaps, the result of My doing? Interpreting your silence My guess, Oh God of eloquence, your answer would rather be the latter For If the former was true, till now, your revelation to me you would have Made known Believe me, oh God of prophecy, Innumerable times have I tried to reach the depths of my being, The innermost part of my soul, Searching the answer there and only there to find But Still, my efforts a constant failure were and are thus Ignorant I still remain Could you, Oh God of light, tell me what is the cause of my failure? Is it because: My soul’s eye have I blinded, by trying constantly into the phenomena, the Answer to find? That only through others I tried myself to know? That in dialogue had I never with myself really engaged? That honest enough was I not with me the truth to tell? That courage I never had to admit my shortcomings? That my trespasses so easily forgave while onto others constantly All my faults projected? YES, now clearly I see the errors I have made, The errors that prevented me the very truth of myself to know: The one, that under the appearances, You very well have hidden Deep, within the innermost part of my being, where the Universal Truth Since my birth resides Oh, Holy One, now unmistakably I start to realize, You are the reason for my being, the Alpha and Omega of my life Nothing could ever happen as it should If With your celestial Will, fail to harmonize! © Demetrios Trifiatis 14 MARCH 2014 Apollo, son of Zeus and Leto! The sun God and God of fine arts, music, prophecy, poetry, and eloquence! Over the entrance of Apollo’s most famous temple, at Delphi, it was written “ YOU EXIST” meaning the only thing man knows about God is that GOD EXISTS, but in order for Man to acquire wisdom to know God, he had first to follow Apollo’s command to Man which was “ Know Thyself.” Note: I posted the poem yesterday but deleted it by mistake soon after so I post it again!

Copyright © | Year Posted 2014




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Date: 5/2/2014 9:33:00 AM
Knowing ones self is the beginning of understanding, knowing God is the beginning of wisdom. I enjoyed your poem. I see you are wandering the halls of the soup, drop by and visit if you have a chance.
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Date: 3/16/2014 2:49:00 PM
- A fantastic well written poem - I agree with your line: "You are the reason of my being, the Alpha and Omega of my life" - For those who do not remember their school learning ... have a bit to learn here - Beautiful written, Demetrios !!! (7 !!!!) - oxox // Anne-Lise :)
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Demetrios Trifiatis
Date: 3/16/2014 6:53:00 PM
Thank you so much my dear, Anne Lise, for your generosity and your genial comment!
Date: 3/15/2014 7:50:00 PM
Great tribute to the god of the sun. The great Romantics often wrote of the Greek gods and you are following in that tradition! Peace & Blessings Matthew Anish
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Demetrios Trifiatis
Date: 3/16/2014 7:47:00 AM
My friend Matthew, thank you for your noble comment and visit!
Date: 3/15/2014 12:15:00 PM
Again.. where Greek philosophy and history meet our God. Well written Demetrious. Amazing how we always look for answers in the wrong places. Opinions... well there is only One that counts. We have to keep reminding ourselves of this. Even as creative poets/artists, we write to please the God that gave us this talent/passion in the first place. Thanks for stopping by my poems. Going out for Pizza and wine now :)
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Demetrios Trifiatis
Date: 3/15/2014 4:41:00 PM
Thank you Kim for your visit and comment!
Date: 3/15/2014 7:00:00 AM
The Bible tells us about God through the life of Jesus..Enjoyed reading your work today..Thanks for the visit to my page..Sara
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Demetrios Trifiatis
Date: 3/15/2014 8:02:00 AM
Thank you Sara for your kind visit and comment! Yes, Jesus is our savior but even HE admired the Greek thought. Do you remember what He said when He was informed that Greeks came to listen to Him? He said: " The time has come for the Name of God to be glorified." So, we have to look for the truth wherever we can find it! I am a strong believer in God and in Jesus. Go to St. John epist . 1 verses 7 and 16! God bless you!
Date: 3/14/2014 8:09:00 AM
What an amazing write. You are one of my absolute favorite poets here on the site. I love your work. You write with such wisdom and understanding. Bless you...Socrates did admonish us to know ourselves....wonderful
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Eileen Manassian
Date: 3/14/2014 9:39:00 AM
Yes...beautiful sunshine! :)
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Demetrios Trifiatis
Date: 3/14/2014 9:34:00 AM
Ah!!!! Shades of: Finally sunshine!
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Eileen Manassian
Date: 3/14/2014 9:24:00 AM
And THAT'S why you are so smart! See...I never knew that. Wow...how interesting! :)
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Demetrios Trifiatis
Date: 3/14/2014 9:22:00 AM
Thank you my dearest friend Eileen for your precious support and for liking my poetry! You know the feeling is mutual! Allow me to clarify something just for our friends that might not be familiar! Yes, Socrates refers to Apollo's maxim at Plato's dialogue Protagoras 343, But the author of " Know Thyself" is attributed to Chilon of Sparta that lived more than one hundred years before Socrates. To be precise the inscription was written in 573 B.C.! When Archon of Athens was Amassias.
Date: 3/14/2014 7:22:00 AM
I believe that your 6th stanza is the greatest and most powerful stanza of all! The questions asked within this this stanza is very deep and full of philosophical wisdom my friend...of course your whole poem is filled with philosophical wisdom, just that this stanza seemed to be more thought provoking or more wise than the other questions of wisdom! Apollo would be proud of this poem Demetrios! I surely loved reading this enlightening write here this evening! What a brilliant piece, Great Work!!
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Demetrios Trifiatis
Date: 3/14/2014 7:39:00 AM
You are so right my friend that the 6th stanza is the most powerful, it was intended to be the climax for is the core of the failure of knowing ourselves! Thank you so much for your superb comment, you honor and humble me at the same time! You understand that after so many years of dealing with Apollo's maxim I had to find a way to share the gist of my conclusions and I found this little simple poem!

Book: Reflection on the Important Things