1048

Claude - The Judement of Paris

Who are those two lurking up above

          Staring down as Paris takes

          The apple, just before he makes

His choice of naked goddess, and the love

Of Helen? Don't they realise the cost

          That will follow from his choice?

          Can't they call out with one voice

'Don't do it, Paris, or we'll all be lost?

But at that distance, simply passing through,

          They've no idea what they have seen -

          It might as well have been a dream -

And, after all, what can mere mortals do

When faced with gods who're not required to care

          Or condescend to others' needs,

          So that our inaction leads

To their assumption of the Lion's share?

Brian Hick November 2011

©copyright Sally Hick 29.11.23

 966

Proserpine

Of all the months I've come to hate September

For once moe it took you away from me,

Leaving winter's never ending scree

Of memories I'd rather not remember.

A pomegranate seed - a thing so small

It's difficult to realise the harm

It caused, so that your child's warmth and charm

With autumn's peace, were banished for us all.

Here I wait, counting the days until

The ice recedes and snowdrops push their heads

Up through the wasted weeds and flower beds,

The sun begins to warm not just to light,

The moon sits softer as I watch the night

Then, you are here again, and all is well.

Dr Brian Hick summer 2011

©copyright Sally Hick 28.7.23

 Antinous

Drowned! How could it be when he would swim

With naiads, raising up his peerless form

To fly before the bringers of the storm

And laugh to see the laurels he would win.

What deity has loved him more than I

And, jealous of my joy, ripped him away

To live eternally where he'll outstay

The very gods themselves, while I must die?

The sun is dark and all the summer's fruits

Are bitter on my tongue, all colours black

That once were rainbowed in his eyes and slack

The bow string in the hunter's hand, pursuit

          Abandoned, for the wounded hart has willed

          Himself to die, who would himself have killed.

Brian Hick September 2008

©copyright Sally Hick 28.9.22