IN THE BARE BEGINNING

In the bare beginning Back before the before Before there was an Earth Before there was a core. The Goddess of All Things Eurynome her name Rose naked from Chaos Since, nothing's been the same. Nowhere to put her feet She split the sea and sky Dancing lonely on waves She sparked the air on high. Dancing towards the south She set wind in motion Something new and apart She'd use for Creation. Wheeling about she caught Hold to this North Wind Rubbing it 'twixt her hands Behold! a great serpent. She danced to warm herself Wildly and more wildly Till the snake grown lustful Coiled, to put it mildly. About these divine limbs Ophion the snake wrapped He tried to hold it in But something in him snapped. Now this Wind fertilizes As would a rapscallion That's how mares breed foals Without aid of stallion. Taking form of a dove On waves to rest her legs In due process of time She laid Universal Egg. The snake coiled about the egg Until it split in two Out tumbled all existence

Sun, planets, stars, and moon. The Earth, too, tumbled out With its mountains and rivers The trees, the plants, the herbs All the living creatures. Eurynome and he Made home Mount Olympus Where Ophion vexed her By claiming what was his. Where would she be less him What contribution hers With all his coiling He'd authored the Universe! So his teeth she kicked out And banished him to caves The darkest ones below earth Now she gets all the raves.

DIONYSUS
Dionysus, newborn son to Zeus A horned child crowned with serpents His transformations served no good excuse At Hera's orders the Titans Tore him into shreds, bringing them to boil In a cauldron, while his blood Sprouted pomegranate trees in soil. Rescued by grandmere Rhea Reconstituted he returned to life Entrusted to Persephone By Zeus, she gave him to Orchemenus' king's wife Ino, and King Athamas For to raise him in the women's quarters Dressed and mannered as a girl. But Hera, who saw clearly through the ruse Made the royal pair go mad So Athamas killed their son Learchus Mistaking him for a stag On Zeus' orders Hermes transformed him Into the kid of a goat Then presented him to mountain nymphs Who tended him in a cave. They fed him honey, cosseting so fine

(So Zeus preserved them in the stars) On Mount Nysa the kid invented wine (Which we now serve in bars.) Hera recognized him as Zeus' son When he grew to full manhood Despite the force of his education Making him effeminate She made him mad, too, and thus he wandered With his tutor Silenus. His wild army of Maenads and Satyrs Roamed the world with odd weapons The ivy-twined staff tipped with a pine cone (Called a thyrsus) and the swords Serpents with bull-roarers of fearful tone All spreading a cult of wine. They sailed to Egypt where they were received Hospitably by a king Across from there an alliance achieved With certain Amazon queens Whom Dionysus invited to march With him against the Titans Who'd expelled King Ammon into the parch Now to regain his kingdom Launching of victories a string. Turning east he made for India Coming to Euphrates Damascus king opposed his idea So he flayed him alive. With vine and ivy he bridged the river Ever watched by his father He crossed the Tigris with Zeus-sent tiger One step closer to his goal Reaching India he conquered the country Teaching it viniculture Giving it laws and founding great cities So they could all get drunk. Now with Indian elephants as mounts Upon their return they met Opposing Amazons waiting to pounce They had changed their minds (of course) One horde he chased as far as Ephesus Just past his home at Nysa Some hid in the Temple of Artemis Where they say they're living still.

He chased in boats those who fled to Samas There a great battle did occur He killed legions, but lost some elephants Whose bones still lay at Phlaeum. By way of Phrygia making his return Where he met grandmere Rhea She purified him of his foul murders Teaching him her mysteries. Invading Thrace, at the mouth of Strymon He encountered Lycurgus This most fierce king of the Edonians Who opposed them savagely Armed with ox-goad, single-handedly He captured the whole army Save their fine leader who jumped in the sea Hiding in Thetis' grotto. Grandmere Rhea, by this reverse much vexed Helped the prisoners escape Turning on Lycurgus whom she hexed Driving him completely mad With axe he struck dead his son Dryas Then began to prune the corpse Of his fingers, his toes, his nose, and ears Believing he cut a vine. Thrace grew barren in horror of this crime Until Dionysus said The barrenness would remain till the time Lycurgus were put to death. To Mount Pangaeum Edonians led Their crazy King Lycurgus Where wild horses pulled him apart till dead Leaving four bloody pieces. Having cleared Thrace of all opposition He travelled to Boeotia He called to join him on Mount Cithaeron At revels, Theban women. But Pentheus, King of Thebes, disliked his So dissolute appearance Arresting him along with his Maenads He suffered now common doom. Like so many before him he went mad And so failed in his object

Wishing to jail the drunken orgy dad Instead he shackled a bull. The Maenads, escaping capture again Tore baby cows to pieces As they went raging into mountains They did the same to Pantheus. When he rushed up the mountain to stop them Inflamed by way too much wine In ecstasy they rent him limb-from-limb His own mother Agave Led the riot, wrenching off her son's head (Best to go with hugs not drugs.) Refusing to join him in his revels Now back at Orchomenus Three daughters of Minyas, the rebels Turned down his invitation To them Dionysus appeared as girl He then changed for them his shape Becoming a lion, bull, and panther With this he drove them insane. Leucippe offered her very own son Hipposus as sacrifice By lot he had first of all been chosen The three sisters tore him up Into small pieces, then him devoured They skimmed mountains in frenzy Till the god Hermes changed them into birds So wretched their demeanor. When they'd acknowledged his divinity All those found in Boeotia He toured Aegean with his trinity Bringing joy, terror, and wine. Finding to be unseaworthy his ship Icaria arriving He entered into a relationship With Tyrrhenian sailors For journey to Naxos their ship he hired That's where they claimed to be bound In a great treachery he would be mired Other ideas they had They turned toward Asia, every one a knave Secretly they were pirates Who intended to sell him as a slave (They failed to catch his godhead.)

From the deck Dionysus grew a vine That rose to enfold the mast About the rigging the ivy entwined He turned the oars to serpents Filling pirate ship with phantom beasts He himself became a lion Leaping pirates became dolphin beasts Overboard they went to flutes. 'Twas at Naxos he met Ariadne Whom Theseus deserted Marrying her spawned the family tree Of children she gave him six Oenopion, Thoas, Tauropolus Tumbled out the first three Then Staphylus, Latromis, Enanthes Rounded out the family. Releasing Naxos, on Argos he fell Perseus resisting him As punishment he cast a spell The Argive women to craze They began to devour their infants raw Till Perseus claimed his wrong Then appeasing Dionysus with awe Building to him a temple. Having by then his worship established Throughout the entire world To Heaven Dionysus ascended Where he sits at the right hand Of father Zeus, one of Twelve Great Ones (Resigning her seat on high Godess Hestia would escape the fun Of jealous family wranglings.) By way of Lerna he then descended To Tartarus where he bribed Fair Persephone to release his dead Sweet mother Semele She ascended with him into Troezen At temple of Artemis He introduced her to Olympians With the name of Thyone (Lest other ghosts be aggrieved or jealous At the apartment provided by Zeus.) He then fell into mad silence.

THE MADNESS OF HERACLES

Megara

Eldest daughter to King Creon Would be his reward He Most famous of heroes Since he defeated the Minyans Her hand in marriage to him Heracles. She Gave to him, Heracles Son of Zeus Sons we know today as The Alcaids. One Was to have ruled Argos Occupying Eurystheus' palace Heracles threw His trustee lion pelt Over his shoulder. Another The King of Thebes His father setting The mace of defence. (Daedalus' deceitful gift) A third Was promised Oechalia (Which later Heracles would Lay to waste.) For all The choicest brides Alliances With Athens, Thebes, and Sparta. When Heracles marched on Thebes He vanquished Pyraechmus King of the Euboeans Ally to the Minyans. He orders the king's body Torn in two by colts Exposed unburied Beside the river Heracleius.

Thus he foments terror Throughout the whole of Greece. Hera Vexed by his excesses Drives him Mad. Six of his own children He mistook For enemies to be shot So he shot them down. And . .

. . hung their bodies . . . . into Fire.

When Heracles recovered his sanity And saw what he had done He shut himself in a dark chamber Avoiding all intercourse With humans For many, many days. Then After purification by King Thespius He went to Delphi There to inquire What he should do. The Pythoness Addressing him For the first time as Heracles (and not Palaemon) She Advised him to reside At Tiryus To serve Eurystheus for twelve years To perform whatever Labors Might be set for him. In payment for his obeisance In recompense for his madness To Mount Olympus he would go His reward Immortality. Heracles fell

Into deep despair Loathing as he did To serve a man So far inferior To himself. Afraid though He was To oppose his father Zeus His friends arrived Solace to offer To relieve him of His distress. Finally with the passage Of the holy healer of Time His pain was alleviated He placed himself at The disposal of Eurystheus. When Heracles set forth On his assigned Labors . . (Famously Twelve there would be) Hermes Gave him a sword. Apollo A bow, With smooth-shafted arrows, And eagle feathers. Hephaestus A golden breastplate. Athena A robe. Poseiden A team of horses. Zeus his father gave A magnificent And unbreakable shield With stories worked on it in enamel ivory electrum gold, and lapis lazuli. Twelve serpent heads Carved about the boss Clashed their jaws whenever Heracles

Went into battle Terrifying his opponents.

Lucy Gray
William Wordsworth (1799)

Or, Solitude Oft I had heard of Lucy Gray: And, when I crossed the wild, I chanced to see at break of day The solitary child. No mate, no comrade Lucy knew; She dwelt on a wide moor, --The sweetest thing that ever grew Beside a human door! You yet may spy the fawn at play, The hare upon the green; But the sweet face of Lucy Gray Will never more be seen. To-night will be a stormy night You to the town must go; And take a lantern, Child, to light Your mother through the snow. That, Father! will I gladly do: Tis scarcely afternoon The minster-clock has just struck two, And yonder is the moon! At this the Father raised his hook, And snapped a faggot-band; He plied his work;and Lucy took The lantern in her hand. Not blither is the mountain roe: With many a wanton stroke Her feet disperse the powdery snow, That rises up like smoke. The storm came on before its time: She wandered up and down;

And many a hill did Lucy climb: But never reached the town. The wretched parents all that night Went shouting far and wide; But there was neither sound nor sight To serve them for a guide. At day-break on a hill they stood That overlooked the moor; And thence they saw the bridge of wood, A furlong from their door. They weptand, turning homeward, cried, In heaven we all shall meet; When in the snow the mother spied The print of Lucys feet. Then downwards from the steep hills edge They tracked the footmarks small; And through the broken hawthorn hedge, And by the long stone-wall; And then an open field they crossed: The marks were still the same; They tracked them on, nor ever lost; And to the bridge they came. They followed from the snowy bank Those footmarks, one by one, Into the middle of the plank; And further there were none! Yet some maintain that to this day She is a living child; That you may see sweet Lucy Gray Upon the lonesome wild. Oer rough and smooth she trips along, And never looks behind; And sings a solitary song That whistles in the wind.