Greek Mythology Link - by Carlos Parada, author of Genealogical Guide to Greek Mythology

Songs of Troy : Preamble
Poems by Carlos Parada

 

White kylix (480-470 BC). Work, found in a grave, of an unknown Athenian vase painter. Against the white background appears the divine figure of Apollo, crowned with a wreath of myrtle leaves. The young god, seated on a folding stool with lion legs, wears a white sleeveless peplos and a purple himation on the left shoulder. His left hand touches the strings of the lyre while his right pours a libation of wine from a libation-vessel. The black bird is a raven.

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SONGS OF TROY
PREAMBLE

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THE OATH OF TYNDAREUS

 

1. The Birds

Heaven placed the birds above,
Saying: "Sing, be free, and love!"

But man landed on the ground--
Like a slave, to darkness bound.

He hears tweets, but not the words
That at dawn sing the wise birds,

Which know more of his affairs
Than he knows of his own cares.

Yet as suits a graduate fool,
He believes he's Cosmos' jewel

As his wounds he plans to suture,
Not right now, but in the future.

"That hereafter's a delusion,"
Sing the birds, "yet an illusion

 

That affects the human head--
Makes him live as if he's dead!

Then sometimes, as a contrast,
He would plunge into the past:

Of same ill, another side,
Like the motions of the tide ...

What occurred, and will take place
Are two eyes in the same face:

Days to come, and the gone days,
Those eyes join in single gaze.

'All is present all the time!'
Nothing else reveals this rhyme."

2. The Plot

Sing the birds that once the gods,
With most mortals felt at odds:

"They're a plague we must reduce:
Both their numbers, and abuse!

Simpler time and simpler place
Shall succeed this hateful race!"

To attain this worthy aim,
They renounced to use a flame,

Earth, or wind, or heavy rain,
But instead chose the same bane:

"Let them fall in their own traps,
Let their wacky world collapse,

And just let this gory sore
Kill itself through bloody war!"

 

From an egg a girl was hatched,
Of a beauty never matched,

To become prize of Discord,
And dark mistress of the sword.

She was Heaven's bright creation,
A delight for sane vocation.

But some men turned the fair girl,
By an oath, into a whirl.

And thereby they built the chains
That enslaved their feeble brains.

Then they claimed that the cruel war
Had been caused by her--"a whore."

But divine was Helen's smile;
They were vile. She was worthwhile.

 

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Next: THE OATH OF TYNDAREUS

SONGS OF TROY

 

Carlos Parada
Lund, February 2004

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