Made me the true love of Love himself!
Vicious sheep I sheared, unsurmountable mounts I climbed,
Returned back from the gates of Hades & beyond;
All at your bidding for a chance to see my one love again.
Oh envious Venus, why doth thou put me to task?
Was it because of my beauty unheard in the mortal world?
Oh Mother of mine, for thou art such
I would gladly give up the secret of my beauty,
For a moment longer with your son.
I pray you forgive me and welcome me Home!
Like a long lost daughter
By virtue of my union with your son.
For it can bring only Pleasure -
The Gods have decreed, I will be...
Born in mortality, raised to Eternity
The love story of Eros & Psyche is the simplest of love stories in the gamut of complex stories told in Greek mythology. In fact instead of a myth, it can be labelled a fairy tale if one so wishes it to be so. After all most fairy tales have a similar story line.
ReplyDeleteThe poem here is written from Psyche's point of view. Zephyr's help brought Psyche into Eros' life who had fallen in love with the girl upon seeing her beauty, against the wishes of his mother. But a trick of fate separated them.
For their reunion, Aphrodite demanded her to shear the wool of vicious sheep who could draw out her blood. Next she demanded Psyche to bring water from atop a mountain where snakes were in abundance. Next she asked Psyche to travel to the Underworld and bring back a little of Persephone's famed beauty. Aphrodite very well knew that it was near impossible for a mortal to travel to the Underworld and come back alive. Yet Psyche achieved all of this.
After completing all the tasks set forth by Aphrodite, Psyche questions her mother by marriage, if she would be willing to accept her as family now. All the Gods have accepted her and decided to make a Goddess out of her. But it would be for naught if her husband's mother would not welcome her with open arms. When she talks of Pleasure, she is being metaphorical with the name of her yet to be born daughter, she will bore Eros as well as the feelings.
"And when the stars are shining brightly in the velvet sky, I'll make a wish send it to heaven "