Best Theseus Poems
As the dusk approaches, with a fusk grunt on his face,
He realizes he has to do what's right;
To save his people from the treacherous minotaur maze,
To risk his life for people in vain.
As the sail shall not be great, he decides to travel with fate.
But truly he thinks it will be wise.
As they set off with the black flags, he promises old deer king they will change
If he survives;
With a glimmering glow from the waters below he sets sail for the island.
Miles and Miles sea after sea the destination comes nearly to a stop
With gusting winds and blushing seas, they’ve made it, at last.
While being stripped of his weapons and armor,
He notices a watching, Deer old princess of the kingdom
While her eyes glimmer at him, he looks away with unsought
Enter the Maze says one of the guards,
They all embark into the cave.
The Princess had given Theseus a sword, as he will use wisely
Standing back in the darkness the children look around,
Nothing but pitch darkness around,
Instead of staying there they decide to explore
But beware of the night before.
With a sword in his hand and rope in the other
He notices a shadow in the darkness,
The children stay back while Theseus steps forward
Confronts the beast with another step forward
With heavy breathing and death on the side
It's time for the fight he thought with a sigh.
With a Shock to the head, Theseus falls back
Gets on his feet and Shocks him back, the minotaur has been wounded
With more hits after and after the minotaur falls with a cry
Tangled in pain Theseus tanks and cut the enemy
Waiting for it to fall
To cell to the floor.
As they embark the ship again,
He comes with the princess to an island,
While he leaves her there they continue off to join the journey
To off to the king with a surprise,
Unlikely they forgot to change the sails from black
To white, so the king decides to do something unright.
The king sees the black sail and knows the worst,
With a jump, he had did
To off the cliff, he had went
So many outs he had made, while Theseus came back
And heard the news
Of the fallen king
With a joust, he had did
With a celebration understood
The newly king has been awakened
But something wasn't right,
All that night he thought of his father
Sitting and pondering with gonder.
©ChandlerFisher_2017
Ah, ‘Love’! a lover’s repeated mantra!
I see me mutter it, just now, very now.
Sigh I high, a busy, burning furnace,
scrolling lines with aching, grieving woes;
she, a charmed worm, wriggles, snorts,
while floating on a fluffy, velvety cloud.
Is this repeated mantra pricier like a jewel:
a sapphire, a diamond, pregnant with
quintuplets? I know she never touched,
- she grieves! - a sapphire or a diamond.
Even necklaces howl at her golden neck —
It’s only a dream: a fluffy, airy dream,
A snorting, never wakening, dream.
When I say, “Love”, LUST - in me
SMILES: luscious, vicious, LUST —
that stays like a cat-snake, light-red,
cool inside “Love”, coiled - hiding —
its head in mid of his slithering body,
and approaches its prey - the victim
of love – STRAIGHT! - straight at night.
Jealousy, the quintuplet brother of Lust,
chuckles on hearing my mantra, "Love",
“There exists a hairy thinness between
Love and Me. We’re quintuplets”.
On my face, jealousy reads sky-rising
Flames in Troy and in an ivory pearl,
And I see Theseus puffing a mount
of flames at Hippolytus
and Love drowning in rising flames —
and other two quintuplet brothers moving,
blindfolded, round and round the dazzling pyre.
*A 3rd Place* in the following contest (Judged on Jan. 5, 2021)
Jan. 4, 2020 (originally posted on Dec. 2, 2020)
Your best free verse 2020 Poetry Contest
Contest sponsor: John Hamilton
* A 2nd Place* in the following contest (judged on Dec. 10, 2020)
Dec. 2, 2020
Catharsis Poetry Poetry Contest
Contest sponsor: Silent One
Inspiration from my own poem, “Jealousy” (published in 2018)
"Keynote"
"hand me your keys,"
she says smiling coolly
into his breeze
throwing getaway notes
out the window
the sharp beaked blackbirds
flee scurrilously
back where they belong
in the past,
broken behind
their token barriers
Heckle 'n Jeckle
Comic strip characters
yapping their disappointment
on a telephone line
singin' as always
their sad ol' songs
she laughs,
"move over, I'll take the driver's seat,
I'll turn your engine on"
(LadyLabyrinth/2021)
"The Uncertain Smile" / The The (Matt Johnson)
https://youtu.be/5bErFXjUGvQ
"Peeling
the skin back
from my eyes
I felt surprised
That the time
on the clock
was the time
I usually retired
To the place
where I cleared
my head of you
But just for today
I think I'll lie here
and dream of you"
keynote.
;)
way too cheeky...
LYRICS/ "The Uncertain Smile", The The
https://genius.com/The-the-uncertain-smile-lyrics
amor vincit omnia.
"The lunatic, the lover, and the poet are of imagination all compact."
Midsummer Night's Dream.
Hippolyta.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippolyta
Theseus - Hipployta.
https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-does-theseus-mean-when-he-claims-that-lover-226273
I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene. Jesus is too colossal for the pen of phrasemongers, however artful." He further added: "No man can read the gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life...Theseus and other heroes of his type lack the authentic vitality of Jesus. -Albert Einstein
When I die, please don’t cry
Instead, I beg – look to the sky
Where my spirit soars, flying high
A light, a love – this is not goodbye
When I die, don’t mourn the end
Instead, know you were a true friend
Gentle prayers you would always send
A story of hope on which I could depend
When I die, please look to the light
Where my soul lives on, it’s such a sight
Trembling and rising, with all my might
Knowing God’s presence makes it all right
When I die, don’t listen to those tears
They tell the story of doubts and fears
Listen, instead, to the joy through the years
Joy that comes to believers when death nears
When I die, please remember my life
And say a soft thank you for His sacrifice
Because He lived and died, faced the strife
We can know the love that comes in the afterlife
When I die, don’t believe the worry or dread
When she says I’m gone – despite what she said
Know that I’m still alive, even though my body’s dead
I live in the presence of God, eating heaven’s bread
When I die, please don’t weep for me
Just think!!! – I’m finally free
In His presence, you surely agree
I’ll find a bigger love than the largest sea
When I die, don’t grieve for what has been
Heed the light that flows, so serene
Remember I was loved by Him, though He was unseen
Because of His great gift, I’ll always love the Nazarene.
clew
a thread
unraveled
it pulls me back
away from the scene
where I had done battle
other heroes are god-touched
their fathers' powers aiding them
sore and wounded ... I retrace my steps
the heartstring of my love will pull me through
His beginning was his end, being swallowed by Cronus
Fortuitously his fortune averted when through Zeus he was saved
With his trusted trident his magnificence reigned
Amphritite at his side, after Delphinius convinced the nymph majesty
God of the ocean, second to none, his wrath was his ultimate fury
Recall the flood to Attic Plain, hark the drownings and shipwrecks!
His magnificence unrivalled, albeit to Athena’s olive tree
His rumoured son, none other than the legendary ruler Theseus
He had his way with Medusa, Caeneus and the mortal Tyro
Subtle yet truly defined, his earthquakes lie testament
Fear the wrath of Neptune, the God of the ocean
I, who now sit alone by this barren shore
Looking vainly out to sea as if
I thought I could espy distant Crete,
Have become a source of ridicule
Among these lesser men,
Who strut and title themselves architects
And brag of the hovels they erect and call palaces,
Built for the king of a land that knows no better,
But, ignorant of Geometry and of Number,
Are merely charlatans and young fools,
While I (an old fool) sit here unused and rusting.
I, who built the dread Labyrinth by command of Minos,
Where he imprisoned the monstrous Minotaur
And every ninth year sent seven girls and seven boys,
Tribute from a defeated Athens,
To their deaths in its dark depths
To be devoured by that mindless thing.
But when Ariadne asked for my help
To save her lover Theseus from that fate,
Foolishly I gave it,
And Minos turned his rage on me,
Imprisoning me and my son inside that very prison.
In my arrogance, I devised a plan
To escape from that which was inescapable.
And this I did, but still was trapped by the sea
And by Minos’ black ships that roamed it.
From wax and the feathers of seabirds
And by my knowledge and craft I devised wings,
And we soared into the cloud-flected sky,
Away from that island prison and free.
For hours we flew on our wings over the dark sea.
I took care not to fly too low,
Else the sea spray dampen the wings and make them heavy,
Nor to fly too close to Phoebus
In his daily journey across the sky,
Less the wax melt.
But my son forgot my warnings,
(Or perhaps I forgot to warn him; I can’t remember now),
And he flew too high and the wax melted
And he fell and the sea swallowed him.
I flew on then, alone,
Until I reached this primitive land
Far from Minos’ reach.
I burnt the wings,
And kept my name and my knowledge
Hidden from the people of this land.
And so I sit here idle,
While above me the birds fly
Where, once, I flew,
And gaze out to the sea
Where Icarus lies.
Born of the light, shadowed by the darkness of time
Theseus knew, not the love of a father nor friend
Seen for the man he should be by an 'ancient' sublime
Bound by the love of a mother, whose love wouldn't bend
Raised with a mothers love in begrudging of times
Always a watchful eye and a helping hand
Scorned by her peoples, outcast, for anothers crime
Lowly in stature, exalted by Gods demands
A friend stood by, shoulder to shoulder
Prepared for to fall, by his side
Unflinching, steadfast, as a boulder
A voice, in the Holy Land
The 'Oracles' eyes are opened by that which she saw
'He' wielding the 'bow of the Gods' by his side Ezekiel
A body encased in a shroud, left her trembling, in awe
His race it is run with the Hellacious hounds at his heels
Bathed in the gaze of her beauty
Wrapped in the veil of her smile
Torn in the Hell of his duty
Daring to walk, the long mile
Trained in the art of war by the God of Gods
Heart beating rapid, but strong through endless odds
Faster and slicker than most, in a lethal dance
Raised for this War of Wars, to quell evils advance
Laid at his feet, like the kill of a rabid dog
Battered and broken, yet, vengeance is all he demands
Blinded by sweat and by pain in the clearing fog
He strikes at the giants weakness... with dying hands
--Who Has no Tomb to Rest His Soul--
After the long, long wandering in the wasteland,
sometimes by the sea where the roaring wind surges
the waters, or times in the highland where the dews chill the bone,
and other times by the marsh where pouring rain lashes the reeds,
Oedipus the blind and ruined old man, led by his dearest daughter,
came to the land of running horseman Colonus,
the land where Theseus reigns.
Woe is the blindness,
strange ground where Oedipus stepped on,
however, was the holy ground of immortal beings,
the ground forbidden to all who are the mortals.
Oedipus, therefore, an impious old man,
the blasphemous king once reigned Thebes,
the shameless one without the eyes to see.
Since the day driven out from Thebes
Oedipus needed a refuge where to lay his worn out body,
where to rest his wandering soul, and therefore, though
unknowingly, he hastily stepped on Holy Land.
Since he was expelled by his own sons and mother’s brother,
Oedipus needed the comforting word that soothes his aching body,
that relieves his troubled heart, and therefore, to hear
sweet music descending from above and echoes
in the grove as the gay spirited birds twitters,
he hurriedly sat on an altar forbidden to the mortals.
The oracle upon Oedipus since his conception
in mother’s womb was a cursed one, a foe to his own father,
the curse Oedipus, therefore, carried from the day of his birth was,
rather than a blessed one the proud heir to the ruler the king of Thebes,
but to become an abandoned child one forced to be a stranger everywhere.
And after the long wandering in an endless desolated land,
though death gave benediction in the night dark as his sight at last,
it did not allow him to have a tomb where his beloved daughters
would be able to dedicate a piece of stone with an epitaph,
the inscribed words of praise to honor him, or to recollect
his sorrowful image before his grave with tears in time to time,
though it may be a painful reminiscence to his daughters.
Alas! the king Oedipus, who has no tomb to rest his wandering soul
even after his death under an evil star.
He was standing there, like a painting by Raphael,
Above a parking garage, for show,
For all to see, behind a bay window,
A forgotten resident of our Daytona Beach Hotel.
And I stared up in awe and dismay,
Stunned, for *Ariadne, in her grand design
A spell in time had placed upon this piano divine;
And to my child I said: “Look! There’s Kay!”
Like you my old friend solitary he waits
Suspended, timeless, his noble frame
Caught behind the glass; but still a flame
His passion stoked, flooding the gates
Rusted closed. So through the corridors
In search we went, opening every door
Until his dark silent presence I glanced,
And on his battered keys a melody I chanced.
And he, rasping at first, soon his chords laid bare
And his soul released in the deepest of flair.
*Ariadne: my friend Kay associates ‘Ariane’ with a higher power or the hand of fate. (In Greek mythology, Ariadne is associated with mazes and labyrinths because she helped Theseus ‘conquer’ the labyrinth and kill the Minotaur).
Resurrecting Icarus
or
A Modern Moral Fable
by
Rick Folker
Kansas City, Mo
Daedalus claimed the sky,
Built a labyrinth from which
Theseus could fly
...
Minos enraged, entombed the
Treacherous Daedalus in a tower
No sky could aide the architect’s power
On high
No land, no sea
Gave comfort to the builder's sigh
Would he hopeless entreat the silent sky
Or conquer it within, at least, in his mind’s eye?
...
Yet, the great artificer fashioned
An ingenious answer to the Minoan king;
Feathers of wax resembling wings
His craft and his son could now be free
To dream
Where only untamed zephyrs and partridges sing
Where high aloft they would transcend
Minos, Ariadne, Theseus
And Meandering rivers of Cretan men
...
But hubris, not modesty, carved the Icarian path
Daedalus, proud Daedalus, helpless
To tame the youth's spirit, and soften
The gods' wrath
And so Icarus unrestrained
Tried, like Prometheus, to lay claim
To the fire, that only Olympians retain
And thus fell Icarus to Daedalus and
The Nereids' plain
...
Thus leaves us wondering, like hapless sages through the ages,
"Would he rise again?"
Or would his brilliant feathers melt into the smouldering shame?
Or would the Phoenix sort and gather the remnants that remain
And take up another more hopeful god's refrain:
'The surviving remnant will bring forth
new roots below and fruits above; for you have restored the dignity my Icarus has duly slain”
Cont'd from Minotaur: Part I
When Theseus arrived in Crete,
he met a lovely maid.
She knew what death awaited him
and hurried to his aid.
She slipped a spool of silky thread
into his hands and said:
"Use this to leave the maze, my friend."
And then the maiden fled.
When Theseus was in the maze,
he did not hesitate.
With every step he rolled his spool,
prepared to face his fate.
He knew this was the easy part:
the worst was yet to come.
And suddenly he heard a snort
which would have made you numb.
He hid behind a rock and saw
the Minotaur come near.
Then Theseus jumped on its back
forgetting all his fear.
He closed his eyes, while hanging on,
and let the monster dash
through every path until it fell
with an enormous crash.
The angry Minotaur got up
and rumbled on again,
but it could not shake Theseus:
it tried, but all in vain.
It stumbled and collapsed for good:
this had been quite a ride.
Exhausted by the grueling race,
the monster heaved and died.
Then Theseus got off its back:
he held the maiden's thread.
The spool was almost threadless now,
and so he marched ahead.
He rolled the thread back on the spool
and followed where it lay.
It was not long before he spied
the blinding light of day.
When Minos saw bold Theseus
emerge without a scratch,
he said: "In all the land of Greece,
I know, you have no match.
Because you've overcome the odds
and have preserved your life,
I want to give you, if you wish,
my daughter for a wife."
But Theseus replied: "Oh, king,
the only wife for me
can be the one who saved my life:
the maid who set me free."
King Minos answered: "You're in luck:
my daughter is that maid.
You've won her heart; please take her home,
and Athens' debt is paid.
And then the maid herself came out.
"We meet again," she said.
"I'm Ariadne, your new bride."
And so the two were wed.
The time has come to end the tale
of how a vengeful king
was overcome by love, a spool
and Ariadne's string.
Daedulus and Ariadne were walking late one night,
Through the maze of Labyrinth, when something caught their sight.
A creature fearsome and bold, the mythical Minotaur,
Theseus the brave came running by, asking what they saw.
Daedulus told Theseus, twas a raging beast, half Bull, half Man,
I think he went that way, please catch him if you can.
Trapped in a labyrinth
The Minotaur waits
For Theseus to come.
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."