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| Greek supreme god, Zeus |
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!”
It’s yours – The Earth!”
That was a really good tale! Sad that war unites people. We've seen that with our own nation. And in cheesy movies like Independence Day, we see the world unite when attacked.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope we can achieve that without the attack ever coming.
Have a great Easter, Fe!
What Alex said. Thanks for stopping by my blog...Happy Easter and AZing.
ReplyDeleteDamyanti, Co-host A to Z Challenge April 2014, My Latest post
Twitter: @AprilA2Z
#atozchallenge
Wonderful poem!
ReplyDeleteHappy Easter Felicity!
Writer In Transit
Sad but true. Nothing divides like love and nothing binds like war! Beautifully written. Thank you for stopping by my blog. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful prize to receive. Great poem.
ReplyDeleteLong maybe but your poem held me to the end; thoroughly enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteJust goes to show... Ironic and fun to read! It is a statement of humans isn't it, that disaster is what it takes to unite us.... I came over from the #atozchallenge2014, and am also an IWSG member...
ReplyDeleteLong, but beautiful. And when it comes to beautiful poems there is no such thing as too long. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for visiting my blog!
Interesting. Makes you wonder if that's why even after all that, we often seem to be at the brink of another war.
ReplyDeleteIt's awesome how wonderfully flawed the Greek gods were, sometimes worse than humans. :)
ReplyDeleteA very powerful poem Felicity thank you - full of verve and tension. I thought I was going to burst. Aphrodite and Zeus - the A-Zers; methinks Aphrodite got it right. If there was mire love we would appreciate this amazing gift - of Mother Earth.
ReplyDeleteGarden of Eden Blog
'Mire' should have been 'more' - typo. There's enough mire - not enough love.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Everyone and Happy Easter
ReplyDeleteAlex - I would love to think that would be true, however...
Damyanti - I loved your blog
Michelle - thanks - you too
Chrys - I thoroughly enjoyed writing it and you're welcome
Juzta - if we took more notice of the little things which happen every day (as you do, I know, I browsed through your blog :) ) we wouldn't be surprised that war or disaster unites. It's a very sad indictment on the human race.
Caroline - some would disagree, I'm sure :p and thanks.
Bob - thanks, that's the best praise I could ever wish for
Lisa - thanks and too true
JL - I think that's exactly why
David - you and I are on the same page here. :)
Susan - thanks and I'm not sure 'mire' isn't correct. :p
Not too long for me, Felicity. Nothing more beautiful that people 'gathering to overcome their common plight', for the amazing prize at the end -- our very own Earth, the only one we have yet constantly find ways to destroy. Thank you for this. Happy Easter!
ReplyDeleteSilviaWrites
Very entertaining. Not sure what it says about mankind but it seems to be true on how humans would act.
ReplyDeleteA very thought-provoking poem! You really were up to the challenge with this quality Q post!
ReplyDeleteJulie
Good One. Happy Easter.
ReplyDeleteOn a smaller scale, put one person in a group that aggravates all the other members, and the same will happen. The Common Threat is a great ploy. So if the God of War won, is that why war endures?
ReplyDeleteThis was great. I could see them all hanging out, determining our fate. If only they were still listening.
ReplyDeleteGreat poem. Kind of sad that love doesn't do the trick, but people really know what's important when they're about to lose everything!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Everyone
ReplyDeleteIt is quite sad that love just won't do the trick, isn't it?
Yes, I do think that war endures because Ares won. He would find such irony in the whole affair. :p