Best Styx Poems
While waiting at the river Styx, in twisted time untaught,
from branches of the gallows tree, in recollections wrought,
your soul, a beggar’s blanket, hangs in crazy quilted knots,
with dangling pearls and diamond studs in dripping crimson clots,
midst gaping wounds and bulging eyes like fouling apricots,
for wrapped like rope around your throat’s the Reaper’s grim garrote.
"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." (Matthew 19:24)
In the shadows of the Montezuma mountains there lies an ethereal river
Ancient Greeks knew of it, and wrote legends, many which are lost.
She is the River Styx. Where your soul travels beyond flesh death.
It is a silent river; no words are exchanged. There is a somber feeling.
A hushed atmosphere as boats carry away newly returned souls.
An empath might hear the whisper of the paddles gliding in the water.
Gaia listens as the water is dipped, and souls return to the underworld.
Atmospheres of the weary tears that flow through the river Styx
Bonded by the watchful eye for Hades is in the molten mix
Cerberus is in his bliss as he watch’s the grotesque gates of hell
Death becomes as it nocturnally numbs the souls underneath its spell
Eurynomos watching rotting corpse’s aromas of the dying dead
Ferryman extends his hand, Charon’s purse must be faithfully fed
Grimly graves in massive waves of victims frivolously falling in
Hell awaits with open gates as the pandemonium does begin
Ignominious retreat for those that would repeat many lifetimes
Jagged rivers edge for those who would wedge their cunning crimes
Kabbalistic rituals leave their residuals as the underworld is overflowing
Lachrymal souls never reach their goals even in their constant crowing
Many do make it as the rest can’t shake it, to outrun the rivers grasp
Necromantic wizards cross the rivers to help undo the candescent clasp
Odysseus in his cunning shall be stunning the querulous Queen as he planned
Persephone in her majesty rigidly rules the underworld by candid command.
In Greek Mythology...a river that forms the boundary between Earth and the Underworld (the domain often called Hades, which also is the name of its ruler)
Cerberus...often called the "hound of Hades", is a monstrous multi-headed dog, who guards the gates of the underworld, preventing the dead.
Eurynomos...was the netherworld daimon (spirit) of rotting corpses dwelling in the Underworld.
Charon...is the ferryman of Hades who carries souls of the newly deceased across the rivers Styx...for a price(coins)
Odysseus...hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey...was a frequent visitor.
Persephone...was the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, and the queen of the underworld. She was abducted by Hades.
Sept.03.2016
Alphabet Soup - Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Kim Merryman
“Styx and Stones”
bad entities exist here
we’ve crossed Styx
we learn we’ve reached sure
when stones are thrown
Candide Diderot. ‘25
In Hades, flows the chthonic Styx, a river
of woe and pain (a channel thoroughfare;
where Charon ferries the dead, who despair)
which unnerves our damned souls till we quiver.
The Styx! It's like cirrhosis which kills the liver,
metastasizing there; but does not care;
and tortures us beyond what we can bear!
Because we are thrice-damned, we now shiver
with the peals of the Stygian death-knell;
while Heaven appears like a hope long dead
(as if we’re ten-thousand feet deep in hell!),
here, where the redeemed dare not walk or tread,
we are but ghosts, like shades without a shell:
yet, hell can we brave; but, the Styx we dread.
Our life is as evanescent as the
trumpet flower of the morning glory.
The merest chapter in the history
of mankind’s ever compelling story.
Various serendipitous ramblings
ultimately contingent ‘on quarry;
retold to captive audience in tones
melodious as silver-tongued lory.
Redolent of an evening-scented stock,
with a crown of wispy hair as hoary,
we insist to recount all endeavours
in its minute shocking details: gory.
An experience that's unsavoury –
remnants that cross river Styx in dory.
Poetic form: XAXA Sonnet. See my article, Introducing Three New Sonnet Forms, here on PS for more details. Also, a 'Summary of Metres' is depicted.
"Styx"
Eyes that run rivers
reflect Styx crossed.
The Journey commences
spilled from inside
the nowhere land,
risen from a metaphorical drowning -
poetic,
worldless boundaries
of a tablecloth moment,
where shining cutlery is set just so,
in the correct placement -
The Last Supper,
we sit across from each other,
grace is not uttered before the meal
there is nothing left between us -
poetic.
What’s left?
A life stolen -
I let you go.
What will be, will be.
Along the road,
another life, calls me,
Home.
What will be, will be.
I let you go.
Along the road,
Life calls you -
Home.
Candide Diderot. ‘26
I stand in the swamp by the riverbank
clutching a coin I have stolen
as my heart still beats within my breast
It is only my spirit
that has slipped away
to await the ferryman of Acheron
Charon who
skillfully pilots his skiff
from there to where it flows
into Styx
He arrives and I pay the price
He places the coin in his pocket
and grabs hold of the pole
pushing away from the shore
as I lay indolent with lament
in the bottom of the boat
the icy chill of the water
seeping through the wood
Shivering I stare at the stars
silently weeping
remembering the many wishes
I made on them that went unrealized
unheard
for the Gods must have
found me unworthy
Cerberus will step aside to admit me
heads snarling
as the snakes on his back writhe
Hades will welcome me
Or he may hand me over
to be judged by Aeacus
and plunged into the pit of Tartarus
for my many sins
to be tortured for eternity
starved and beaten
my liver eaten by birds
May he have mercy on me
this sorrowful lost soul
for all I ever wanted
was to dance
carefree and content
to the music of miracles
in the golden flower filled
Elysian Fields forever
with you
Conquered by the circumambient incandescent
We are impuissant to all illumination
Its conflagrant presence remains incessant
The Mother's diurnal course without reincarnation
Purity of white, in its bright obsolescent
Beauty transmogrified to incarceration
Destitute to substance of atramentous
Yearning for just an ounce of clandestiness
Reverse fear of aura that is portentous
The cosmos suffocating, attempting solace
Abyss of chaos, our species remains apprentice
Our essence, Yang without Yin, remains starless
"50 Words for Poe: Styx"
Sleep now
Your Nepenthe has been taken
listen to your dream
what you pay alms for
requires surveillance
this is where she is reached and seen
in her dreams she dreams within your dream
He whistles in with the wind
Like King of the Hill
Incubus sucks her soul in
she sits in his boat
long bare legs wearing
Red killer stilettos,
"Persimmon" on her wiggling toenails
She's all covered in Sin
she smells good, ripe for kissing
sailing on Styx
towards some kind of destiny
Him and his hot dream
on their first tryst
this vetoes all need for safe religion
when he looks at himself,
God is in the mirror
staring back at Him
He smiles a Jack Nicholson grin
In vivid hues of Blue
he dreams to win
She whispers,
“Baby come here, come in”
This is all he needs
He's already on his knees
She becomes
His strange new religion
The Black Raven softly sings
Purple is the colour not Red, that 'reals' him in
(LadyLabyrinth/2019)
"And I'm not one for thinking twice,
But I know this much is true,
The earth will turn and powder burns,
And you are my revolver."
Strange Religion, Mark Laneganhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAQZKbUkK_0
The Red Shoes, Kate Bushhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbbPPy_bNM4
Lily, Kate Bushhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWaqPOnR5wU
Moments of Pleasure, Kate Bushhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW5hjWVS3ho
Revolver, Campbell/Laneganhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT1Y0m8MX2I
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styx
Purple
https://www.bourncreative.com/meaning-of-the-color-purple/
https://www.colormatters.com/the-meanings-of-colors/purple
Red
https://www.bourncreative.com/meaning-of-the-color-red/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Shoes_(fairy_tale)
Blue
https://www.bourncreative.com/meaning-of-the-color-blue/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepenthe
Alone on the river Styx
untouchable by experience
in reach of warm safety
a reward constantly carroting
the current icy morrow
my solo journey
exciting lack
grey and without embrace
without redemption
without nature
away from god
Acherontia Styx
The ancient river of between
Nightshades powdered wing gold and purple
Flutters the dead skull
In soft velvet wizardry’s cloak
The eye of the moon caped in cloud
Traverses the underworld sheet of stars
With deaths head mark laid upon its back
On the subtle wings of mysteries code
Luminescent beauty painted golden dark
And flight amidst the dividing veil
Carries in secret the phantom messages
Of ferryman Charon
And dreams so mortal of the silent expanse
Beckon on to the end of life
Portent and guide
Rides the shadow in the full moons eye
Styx
by Michael R. Burch
Black waters, deep and dark and still:
all men have passed this way, or will.
NOTE: According to ancient Greek mythology, the Styx was the River of Death. The dead would pay Charon, the ferryman of Hades, a fare to carry them across the Styx to their eternal destination. (Hades was not "hell" as it was improperly translated in the King James Bible. Hades had heavenly regions, such as the Elysian Fields and the Blessed Isles.) The fee was normally an obolus or danake. The Greeks would place the coins in the mouths of the dead, but over time the custom would become placing coins, usually pennies, on the eyes of the dead.
one said that some cross the river paying the fare to Charon
the blunt old bearded ferryman, while others cross the waters
with no money but the faith alone
it’s so simple and easy to step on the sands of dismal river Styx
because men of humble class shall die
the monarchs and the noblemen die as well,
because when the evil minded go the good conscious heart also has to go, because man dies the god must also die and vanish
for no exception but all is to die
it’s so simple and easy to step on the sands of dismal river Styx
however, alas is the man with no money in his hand
or the faith in his heart, because the man has no means to
cross the river but to shiver on the bank on this side and to watch
the ferryboat going and coming without his soul
or else, to find the way back to the land and take a side-way
with the great risk for there stands Cerberus, the enormous vicious
three-headed dog, on the side-way guarding against trespassers
for he was never ceased wandering soul while on the face of earth,
he roamed around here and there to find a place to call his own
the place to dwell with the peace of mind, but unable to find one
only because he has no money or the faith,
though he spent his entire life as a wanderer on earth,
to abandon his weary soul on this side of the riverbank
and let him become a lonely wanderer again in the netherworld
by the river Styx, isn’t this an overly harsh punishment?
Forming a crossroad
Between the living
And the dead
Down this river
To the world of evil
Darkness appears
Ravens flying near
The reaper comes fourth
And take souls from the north
Putting them in pain
Making them go insane
Feasting upon there souls
Making there hearts, turn to coal
This is where the dead roam
And call there place home