Today’s blessing is a thought
Euripides first designed…
and is an important lesson
for future generations to keep in mind…
To all those people who are wanting
To make their country great:
When one with honeyed words
But evil mind
Persuades the mob…
Great woes
Befall the state.
O that god would change me to a sea-bird,
soaring in the sunset,
joyously and free,
leaving all my sorrow
for my own tomorrow,
far beyond this lying world’s illusion.
I would fly away to that bright garden
past the ocean’s ending,
where eternity
nourishes the flowers
through their perfect hours
never touched by human life’s confusion.
To fly away, away, away, away, away on wings of wishing,
where the golden apples swell in ripeness,
and the fertile meadows
bloom abundantly,
bringing forth earth’s treasures
for the deathless pleasures
granted to the gods in calm profusion.
-- translated from the Greek
Tingling of tongue sent Euripides
Questing a tastier kind of cheese.
"I found cheddar magical,"
Said this poet tragical,
"Sailing the southern antipodes.”
Aeschylus: "Agamemnon"
A man in exile
Feeds himself on barren hope
Yields to fate in time
Aeschylus: "Prometheus Unbound"
Life's hard lesson
Wrong is shameful in the old
Time instructs us all
Sophocles: "Philoctetes"
Words not deeds rule men
Shaped to meet the moment's need
Waging war with fate
Sophocles: "Antigone"
Courage to choose right
And 'gainst harsh reality
Make no compromise
Aristophanes: "Lysistrata"
Poet's plea for peace
Fair breezes speed us onward
Making love not war
Euripides: "Alcestis"
Time will console you
Walk to the end of old age
The dead are nothing
“He is not a lover who does not love forever.” - Euripides
I savor each tender kiss from your lips
Your touch stirs great ardor within my heart
Grateful for time spent when we're together
Our lucent love shines despite an eclipse
United as one 'til death we must part
Two hearts are joined without rings to tether
You are my life, beloved destiny
Eyes aflame with desire, your arms outstretched
Through joys and hardships, we walk hand in hand
Great lovers, we are now and forever
Visions of you, in my mind has been etched
Like footprints, together pressed in beach sand
Not washed away by tides; no, my love ~ never
Faithful now, and throughout eternity
To Flower
by Michael R. Burch
When Pentheus ["grief'] went into the mountains in the garb of the baccae, his mother [Agave] and the other maenads, possessed by Dionysus, tore him apart (Euripides, Bacchae; Apollodorus 3.5.2; Ovid, Metamorphoses 3.511-733; Hyginus, Fabulae 184). The agave dies as soon as it blooms; the moonflower, or night-blooming cereus, is a desert plant of similar fate.
We are not long for this earth, I know—
you and I, all our petals incurled,
till a night of pale brilliance, moonflower aglow.
Is there love anywhere in this strange world?
The Agave knows best when it's time to die
and rages to life with such rapturous leaves
her name means Illustrious. Each hour more high,
she claws toward heaven, for, if she believes
in love at all, she has left it behind
to flower, to flower. When darkness falls
she wilts down to meet it, where something crawls:
beheaded, bewildered. And since love is blind,
she never adored it, nor watches it go.
Can we be as she is, moonflower aglow?
Originally published by The Neovictorian/Cochlea
Jump Through A Rope
Ropes may be used to jump through;
After you have done more than a few,
Faster and faster;
A major disaster;
Will become tired like most people do.
Jim Horn
Not Freeze and Comfortable Breeze
Euripides please warm things up and not freeze,
And even exacerbate warm comfortable breeze;
With weather great,
Now and not late,
That everyone does love and with always agree.
Delude and Not Collude
What we should do is be sure to never collude,
And if we did and were to delightfully delude;
Not create chaos,
Or being big boss;
While we create peace and stop having a feud.
Jim Horn
Run Over In a Stampede
Awesome poem that I love to read;
Everyone else they all have agreed;
Reached the end;
Rules did bend;
Was run over by horses in a stampede.
Jim Horn
Hippolytus and Phaedra In Declining Orbits
Hippolytus and Phaedra, a Euripides sad story
Phaedra wants sex with Hippolytus, (her step-son)
She tries every trick in the book for her own glory
Hippolytus, illegitimate son of Theseus, (king of Athens)
Phaedra, his wife was not very nice
Theseus wants his son dead for what he tried to do
Hippolytus, (sworn to chastity) plus, he wants men
Unjustly charged for compromising Phaedra
Banished by his dad
Died slowly from injuries brought on
In a bad decision
Incurred by a chariot collision
Phaedra orbits in another world, from another planet
She hanged herself, which brought attempted incest to an end
Hippolytus travels in his own universe, he too is dead
Papa said my beauty would make life better
For marry I must this summer
Or we shall continue to suffer.
Bride Price shall make my family richer.
But I am in a dilemma.
Sam is sweet but Jude is Richer
Papa would welcome either,
For Marry I must this summer
Faithful Jude adores me better.
Sam’s ego burns like fire
And this makes me bitter.
Sweet Jude stalks me like a beggar,
Wicked Sam is not much of a love giver,
And Marry I must this summer.
Alas! I know not why I love Sam better.
Maybe Sweet Jude is too much of a Lover,
Maybe Sam appears to be the worthier,
For he frets not about my beautiful aura
And is sanctified with the Ego of a deserving lover,
Sam I must marry this summer.
QUOTATION
When love is in excess it brings a man no honor nor worthiness.
Euripides, Medea, 431 B.C.
Greek tragic dramatist (484 BC - 406 BC)
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.