Best Underworld Poems
tonight I sleep and dream
Deepest wishes fulfilled
if wishes solved problems
My world would be different
it has been four long years
Since you left this world
You like a rose
Blooms on the other side
I dream into the shadow realm
In the world of Orpheus
The dream of the living
To resuscitate the dead
descending into the underworld
The world of frost and fire
Where ferns turn to coal
Where time slips and slides
dreams seek the unspeakable knowledge
Of everything silent and lost
Too painful and deep to articulate
Until we awake and find our way back
I search for you my love
As Orpheus sought Eurydice
I am lost in the underworld
Trying to bring you back to the living
without you my love
I am an island in the sea
My pillow is wet with tears
I am condemned to a bottomless sky...
Proteus beneath our wheels,
shapeshifting God of the Underworld hungers,
longing for music as laughter,
stars that sparkle in young eyes.
He takes what Hebe gifts,
lacking such grace Himself.
Wheels pass:
Proteus sleeps,
sated until the next passing,
waking with a song to feed again.
I felt her Gothic breath
It's warmth breathing
Upon my body; her touch
Igniting these senses..
In flames her lips tracing
Burning kisses this conviction
Of my want; black velvet blue skies.
Sijo-5
one day accidentally, I stepped into the way which
laying in the gruesome air that leads to the netherworld
the chill and soundless world no one ever been there has returned
A verse retelling of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. I based this verse on the story told in Bullfinch’s Mythology (1959).
Gather 'round now and hear while I retell
One of the greatest stories told of love
About a man named Orpheus, whose skill
With the lyre could melt the hardest of hearts
Of beings both mortal and immortal,
Soothed the beasts that roamed the woods, plains, hills
And even the plants from the lowly shrub
To the stateliest of trees stood entranced,
Whenever he passed and his music played.
Joined to Eurydice in nuptial bliss,
Tragedy struck not long after they’d wed
As Eurydice, loyal to her vows,
Fled from Aristaeus' unwanted arms,
Stepped on a serpent that in turn did bite
Her exposed foot causing her to expire,
Plunging Orpheus in bottomless grief.
What would you do if the woman you loved
Were taken away from your home and hearth,
She whose life with yours was so intertwined
That to live without her was worse than death?
So Orpheus dared go where no man could
To bring back his beloved, he embarked
To the Nether regions where Hades reigned
With Proserpine in eternal night.
He caused such strains that moved the king and queen
To free Eurydice from her confines
And with her husband go without delay
Back to the world where there was night and day.
What happy reunion it must have been
To happen in the most unlikely place
That never witnessed joy nor happiness!
With longing hearts that they would soon unite
Wife walked behind husband towards the light,
But Eurydice had scarcely stepped out
When Orpheus, overcome with desire
To behold his beloved's face once more,
Looked over his shoulder only to find
His wife held back by the cavernous mouth!
For he forgot the bargain he had made
With Hades, who released Eurydice
On condition that Orpheus must not
Glance at his wife until the two of them
Were completely out of the Netherworld.
Thus ended one man's quest born out of love
Who defied nature's laws just for the sake
Of the woman he loved, and did succeed
In freeing her from death's clasp but only
To lose her again for eternity.
Among 3rd Place, Myth & Memory Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Vanya Evangeline
I have lost faith love and respect for the institutions
We should have the grit to face our negative image
I am saddened by what is happening today
Why do agencies support elite class mafia?
I am extremely disappointed by intelligence
What they are doing is condemnable
I have lost faith in Judicial System
Guardians and protectors are foes.
Gulam thay gulam hain
Supari kay gulam hain..
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.
With the seriousness of D flat Major
And a purpose hideously grim
My ritual of despair and darkness
Is about to mercilessly begin
The shedding of innocent blood
As I summon a screaming soul
Moans like the organs of Dracul
Rehearsing a satanic goal
The mist, the fog, the moon
Comingle in an unholy alliance
Like the eye of something insidious
Crushing all hope and defiance
The confused victim is before me
Looking at me in disbelief
His gaze turns to my blade
That was forged to bring him grief
I begin to move forward
The way an apparition will float
Like a violation of sovereignty
I put the razor to his throat
This sacrifice must be made
To take me where the demons lurk
Damn, I always cut myself shaving
When I'm getting ready for work
Stripping and peeling,
exposing what lies beneath-
Double-dealing underworld.
Under the world of the rich
Below the higher class
Lurk the poor, and the gloomy
Ones who live in the past
Enjoying every moment
Any might be their last
Yet looked down upon
By this higher class
They feel as though
They are discarded trash
Only the poor
Can make joyful moments forever last
They lurk under the world
Of the rich higher class
My Eyes Grow Heavy
Brightness of Sunlight Shames Me
Darkness is my light
within daisy roots
worms in their world
space exploration
The Underworld
There is a path
that leads to the bridge.
Well, not exactly.
It leads under it.
Why would anyone want to go that way?
You might ask that question.
I might dare to answer,
but it will be
only what I know of...
so far.
The trail starts up high at the road.
It winds down,
and then...
It stops.
It ends at a large rock.
It is the size of a giant's fist.
I wonder how it got this far,
from anywhere that "it" is not...
the rest of his body?
Then...
all around,
there are plants,
pretty, pretty, weeds you see.
They are purple, with yellow beaks.
They are not birds,
they are "nightshade".
Avoid them,
dare not touch them...
go around.
There is no direct trail anymore,
there is only a place where some have passed by
and returned, while others did not.
We are nearer now than we were before.
The great concrete and iron structure loom ahead.
The day is bright, but it is not here in this place.
Instead, it is cool and dim.
The echo of small birds chirping,
is a song sung in unison to the one
sang by seagulls on the coast to mermaids,
as they brush their hair.
Don't stare...
if you see them clear,
for fear they will take something you have,
and not give it back.
The trees reach the ceiling
and then climb around.
They embrace man's interference in the land.
It is not as if they had a choice,
but it is both obvious and apparent,
that they have no reason
to be concerned.
Now the world beneath is before me,
although the road continues,
makeshift in its irregularities.
There is a stack of stones...
one upon another.
It proves I am not the first,
and I will not be the last.
Yet, it does not diminish my adventure.
The journey into a place,
I have never been before until now.
There are marks on the ground.
The coming and going of the night animals.
Coon, skunk... and other things.
They are asleep now but will be back.
I can see the river from this point.
It is rolling rather fast.
The monsoons have filled its banks.
There is no storm here, near...
This is all from the mountains to the north.
Strange sounds make my heart beat faster.
I turn and go back home,
while I can still find the way.
I will not stay forever,
not this day.
A victim of the streets
She's one of the homeless,
A victim of society
She left the broken home,
Try as they may there was no fixing it,
Her parents deciding, to go their own ways,
She turned to drugs and drink
And lost control,
They said was nothing they could do, now she was in that hole,
She was lost they said both in heart and soul
And so be came a destitute,
In a world of decrepitude,
Open to being abused,
This now was the life for her
And it wasn't even her fault,
This is where she had been brought,
Down on her knees and she baulked,
In the face of responsibility,
She longed just to be free of this life
And this isn't right,
That this became her plight,
And there was no one there for her
And no support or care,
Welcome to the underworld,
She was now a junkie girl,
Turning tricks and getting burned,
Within a society that turns a blind eye,
That covers up its ears
And that ignored all of her tears
That she cries alone at night.
There are leaders who talk about all kinds of improvement,
but mostly, that's just diversion.
Who really knows what they're after.
On the other hand, one of the most common things
they want is power and promotion.
I think an accurate way to describe how they really gain power
in the underworld would be like playing a series of poker games.
As they use cheating tactics to win, their positions grow
as they gather more poker chips.
The more poker chips and money they win, the more powerful
they secretly become in their offices.
Originally posted: 7/30/2018