Legacy

image borrowed from bing

Legacy

“Undeservedly, we will atone for the sins of our fathers.”

---Horace.

On a Grecian urn

in a dark museum, I remember

a painting of the wedding of 

Pirithous & Hippodamia of Lapith,

where the drunken Centaur guests decided

they would steal all of the women,

and the royal guards had to slay them,

winning the Battle of Centauromachy.

Later, I imagined, they all dined

on roasted Centaur steaks,

long strips of fried Stallion phallus

and hundreds of broiled eyeballs.

Before Christianity, before we found

our messianic prophet to worship,

men mated with the Gods

and whelped demi-god offspring.

Pirithous was rumored to be fathered by Zeus.

But after the nuptials, he soon became bored

with being a king & husband, and just decided

one day to seek out the warrior Theseus

and befriend him; which he did by stealing

some of the other’s cattle. When they met

in confrontation, they were so enamored 

of each other’s youth & prowess, they

immediately did a scene right out of

Brokeback Mountain, and began a Bromance

that would end badly. 

They immediately began searching for adventurous

mischief to engage in, deciding to steal the daughters

of Zeus. Theseus kidnapped Helen of Sparta,

who at 13 years of age was still too young to marry--

but Pirithous was much more ambitious, choosing

to steal Persephone, the wife of Hades.

Impressed by the boldness of the plan, they returned

Helen back to her mother, and soon were journeying

off to the Underworld. But the trip proved to be arduous,

even for these strong determined youth, 

so when they came to a great rock on a high hill,

they decided to stop there and rest.

Suddenly they were surrounded by Furies,

and as they attempted to rise and fight, 

they found themselves magically imprisoned

on the rock.

As in many of these legends, we must believe

that somehow Hercules had heard of their fate,

and he showed up, offering to assist them.

He did manage to free Theseus from the granite,

leaving most of his shapely buttocks still attached

to the stone. 

But when he tried to free Pirithous,

the earth began to shake and Hades appeared,

telling them that Pirithous’ crime was too grave,

wanting to steal the wife of a God, and that

he would only be released from the stone

upon his death. 

All of this was printed on a large placard

beneath the urn, and oddly, I had taken

the time to read it in its entirety. Just

silliness, goofy antics, just fodder

for future comic books and Hollywood epics,

I thought.

But sobering, troubling ideas bubbled

up from cortical magma--were these

myths & legends any more absurd

than pitting Christ against Mohammed,

Buddha against Joseph Smith,

the Torah against the Koran,

the Bible against the New York Times

editorial page?

Being incarnate creatures in lesson,

we have always sought the solace

of spiritual guidance. For those who seek,

we found that the Gnostic scrolls & the hushed

whispers of ascended masters among us,

of Atlantis, of Lemuria, seem to suggest

all of our religions descended from Mythos;

just another entertaining fascinating

set of stories, once recited orally around

great bonfires while feasting on mammoth ribs;

always provocative, manipulative, leading

many of us to strife, cruelty, & martyrdom,

a never ending path away from peace & brotherhood.

Will enough of us awaken from this nightmare

in order to cope with the second coming, or

extraterrestrial craft landing on the White House lawn?

Glenn Buttkus

May 2013

Posted over on dVerse Poets--Poetics

Would you like to hear the author read this Mythical poem to you?