This is the longest of the poems I've included but I really like it, so here it is for you to enjoy as well...
Quandary
The gods
were in a quandary
Didn't quite
know what to do
Zeus cried
“the world’s a mess
And the
solution lies with you”
They
convened an urgent meeting
Decided a
quiz the only way
Then each
retired to a favourite haunt
To gather
again at noon the next day
The trials
began in urgent haste
Amid a great
excitement
The prize,
although they knew not what
Would be worth the time they spent
Aphrodite, gentle
god of love
Was first to
show her might
To all the
peoples of the earth
She whispered
“Only Love is right”
When all had
heard her tender pleas
And listened to her “notions of love”
They scorned
each other that much more
For seeming
to hearken to “thoughts from above”
Dionysus,
rowdy god of wine
Thought he’d
sewn the contest up
He poured
out wine throughout the world
And adjured
all to “sit and sup”
He should
have known better
Have know
that hate would be rife
When all had
supped past their tolerance
They turned
on each other in all-out strife
The last to
try his wits that day
Was Ares, god of war!
He took his
stand – the last, by choice
As all the
gods sighed – said no more
A master
tactician, the greatest ever
Who’d never ever lost a bout
He’d planned
his tactics in advance
And, thus
prepared, boldly set out
Humans, he
knew, were very, very strange
Yet, they
were all the same of course
He chose his
venue – the Arctic Wastes
And began
his onslaught – showed no remorse
His
lightning struck, his thunder bellowed
Wild wind
and water wrestled in wrath
The ice and
earth – not match enough
Writhed and
struggled in the aftermath
The gods and
Zeus sat in confounded silence
Neither
daring to question, nor intervene
They felt,
and not without conviction
That the
earth they loved was to end in ruin
Ares,
however, was no human’s fool
And he watched
them in silent delight
As all
races, creeds and peoples as one
Gathered to overcome their common plight
As each
nation’s peoples united at last
As countries
and continents cried “détente, détente”
Ares slowly
and carefully retreated
Declaring to
Zeus “I've achieved what you want”
Zeus
applauded and vowed majestically
“I’d never
have dreamed that what I've seen here
Could have ever transpired through the god of war
And I have
to admit I had some doubts and fear”
“You've won
your prize, there is no doubt
I trust
you’ll appreciate its worth
Because you
understand them and united all people
I give you
your prize
It’s yours – The Earth!”
