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A Harrowing for Wisdom
-< A Harrowing for Wisdom >-
Part One: In Timeless Times
In timeless times of ages past, when the world was younger but never quite innocent,
I approached the temple of the oracle, that Sybil who was the advisor to the ancients.
In Delphi, where the ring of columns stood to mark the place of the great lady Pythia,
Who crossed the gulfs of space and time: to sit in rapture on her tripod oft in delirium.
A prophetess was Pythia, and every Sybil took her name to honor what she had begun,
Since the first came from a distant star far beyond the Milky Way’s most familiar sun.
A council of priestesses met this day, to convene and mark what the prophetess spoke,
Of matters concerning the descent I was to take, to liberate one from death’s sad yoke.
None may enter the netherworld, they claimed, not even to save a goddess’s own soul,
But if I were mad enough to try, then I would have to journey unto lands dark as coal.
In Eleusis there was a hidden cavern, and therein a portal known to only those elect…
Who were allowed, to know the secrets of the mysteries practiced by: a shadowy sect.
Two others made the pilgrimage with me: a man and woman said to be of divine birth,
Who could open the gates below, through means proven by the pair’s esteemed worth.
Unsanctioned by the oracle, these brave fools came to me knowing my mission dire…
And now, they led me into darkness, close to the lowest regions of brimstone and fire,
Which marked the hidden tunnels below the ways shown to visitors to Eleusis of old.
Beneath the temple of Diana, where only my guides could lead me forth, madly bold!
Seven times they uttered the words, at the gates to the place where from none return…
Until the keeper of the way came forth: with fearsome eyes that, with inner fires, burn.
He demanded a sacrifice of a black ram, which the man and woman had not brought…
And so he took his toll from their blood, tearing them both into pieces without thought.
For this payment of blood he opened the gates that cost so high a toll to cast thus wide,
Thus with fearful steps I made my way forward and seeing the way open I went inside.
Part Two: Within the Gloom
Within the gloom and darkness that lay beneath the sod I saw the souls of the two slain,
That noble man and woman: who now walked, where thickest the shadows therein lain.
I could not save them in life, and now no power could reach them in the land of death…
A host of beings sent from on high hurried me along until soon I was heaviest of breath.
Then, it seemed they vanished to some other realm of perception, leaving me to wander,
In hallways dark and caverns thick with pale green mists, with a rumbling, like thunder.
I came soon unto carven halls with sunlight from shafts in the high ceiling, drilled deep,
All the way to the surface world, and from that happier place shafts of light did creep…
Which helped to grow a beautiful garden, fed by rivers that ran through tunnels unseen.
And I did walk amongst the many trees, which grew in unearthly shades of blue, green,
As well as other colors, impossible to find in nature, yet which thrived in these regions.
In the midst of the garden was a statue of a goddess surrounded by cherubs and lions…
The one who first did partake of the fruits of this place and fell under an undead swoon.
Still she presides over those who come this way, so far from the glow of the full moon!
Sitting upon a silver chair before the statue was a young girl of some uncanny beauty…
Blonde of hair, and wearing a gown of emerald green, laurels for her crown of majesty,
Did decorate her bright locks as if she were some noble of the grand Athenian tradition.
Sharp were her features, and elfin in their way, but lovely in this part of deep perdition!
If this is darkness, she was light, and she beckoned me to come before her in reverence,
But she was no queen of the damned, rather just a shade come hither to do her penance.
She asked me whom it was I sought, for only for such reasons do the living so quest…
And I replied that the gods sent me to retrieve the shade of fallen Athena from her rest.
For long had she been missing since her grief took her beyond the cares of life itself…
I had loved her madly, and so in defiance of the oracle I came unto the place of this elf.
Part Three: The Dark Temple
The elfin girl told me to follow her unto the temple of Athena erected to be her home…
Now that she presided no longer in such residence above, nor walked in flesh and bone.
The infernal temple newly christened to her honor, I was led unto its’ haunted palisade,
Where came multitudes of ghostly people to honor the goddess even as a lonely shade!
Such was the power, of she whose wisdom guided peoples who wandered the heavens,
Even unto this very Earth, even unto this darker realm where dust is bread unleavened.
The elfin maiden took me by the hand and led me to a cloister where she did kiss me…
Bidding me to caress her smooth skin through the folks of her garments ever so gently.
She was not dead as I had thought, but like me some living being come down to there,
That place of final silence, where even this display of love evoked in others not a care!
Only I was moved my her wanton sharing of herself, and so I asked her why she did it,
As she replied that only love could conquer death, and so she prepared me as did befit.
We made love beyond the brink of ecstatic pleasure, and passed a timeless eve thusly…
For such was the way of the cloister of Athena’s infernal hall, and it was kept so justly.
When the sharing was complete, I was led naked and by the hand to meet the goddess,
By my guide: who bade me think only happy thoughts, lest it bring to the dead distress.
Into the holy of holies of that place we stepped, our feet leaving no sound ever audible,
Upon the clammy flagstones, past dim torchlight and pools of blood kept ever so full…
Until I saw the priestesses of Athena: all children, who chatted away on trivial matters.
And upon her splendid gray throne, sat she whom I vowed to set free of death’s fetters!
Before the throne was a man in a gray hooded robe, who seemed just a shadow in truth,
The only glimpsing of his countenance being, a mouth with many a fanged sharp tooth.
No malice or hatred had he, only a terrible sense of apathetic carelessness magnified…
So that not a thing moved him to tears or pity: for anything ever living, dead or deified.
Part Four: Athena Looks Back
The walls of Athena’s chamber were lined from ceiling to floor with books and scrolls,
On shelves of solid marble such as would not be subject to decay, as time onward rolls.
As I neared the throne on which the goddess sat, the robed man stepped for to interfere,
Halting me in my tracks, by hurtling at me diabolic magic from a glowing green sphere.
The elfin girl who walked at my side made a sign with her hand that dispersed the spell,
Allowing me to move once more, despite the silent protests of that hooded lord of Hell.
Thus thwarted, the gray necromancer accused me of each sin that I had ever committed,
Attempting thus to make me feel so unworthy to free the goddess so long uncomforted!
I did not deny my sins, but instead struck out with my fists against the terrible specter…
Who vanished to nothingness, laughing cruelly as I reached Athena: to thus protect her.
Athena had not diminished during her time under the ground, but remained unchanged,
Splendid in her gold gown, her arms and armor cast next to her chair but not estranged.
She told me that she had never once tasted the fruit that entraps the soul, nor ever drank,
The waters of forgetfulness that flowed from unseen reaches, and down some falls sank.
Her face was serene as I led her forth from where she languished, out from the temple…
And so we ran: as all the shades of that terrible domain were unleashed to swift trample,
To chase us down and ensure that Athena never again see the coming of the dawn star!
Haste was at our heels and so was all of Hades as we passed through every gate and bar,
The goddess was at my right and the elfin girl was at my left, each holding of my hands.
Soon it seemed we would escape the grip of eternal night and set foot upon living lands,
But cruel was fate to fill the heart of a goddess with fear, and cause her to look on back.
That made her stumble and fall, carried away to her dark temple in that mirthless black!
Soon the elfin girl and I were clear of the barriers that separate life from death’s grasp…
Though we had lost the object of our questing, as we sat in sorrow, to weep and to gasp.
Epilogue: Divine Lamentations
It was not dawn but midnight when the elfin girl and I walked on a lonely Greek road…
Between the mountains and the woodlands, where shepherds often in loneliness strode.
We were clothed once more in fitting attire, and sat for time by a campfire we kindled,
Singing songs to mourn the second passing into shade of Athena, who never dwindled!
Even when the darkness claimed her and fear finally gripped the very heart of wisdom.
Never again could we hope to challenge for her, the terrible might of Hell’s kingdom…
And so I held my elfin lover in my arms, and I sang her to sleep whilst crickets chimed.
She awoke after a while and in her hair, were the horns of a crescent moon that shined,
Revealing at last her identity, that ancient goddess no less great than Athena ever was…
Yet ever young and ever powerful was my companion, ordained by the highest of laws!
Returning to heaven, she blessed me for my valor and my compassion ere she departed,
And I decided to travel back to Delphi, where first my quest for the lost goddess started.
So many questions had I for she who presided over the seat of the oracular divinations…
As in their timeless realm, the gods sang for Athena the sweetest of divine lamentations.
Part One: In Timeless Times
In timeless times of ages past, when the world was younger but never quite innocent,
I approached the temple of the oracle, that Sybil who was the advisor to the ancients.
In Delphi, where the ring of columns stood to mark the place of the great lady Pythia,
Who crossed the gulfs of space and time: to sit in rapture on her tripod oft in delirium.
A prophetess was Pythia, and every Sybil took her name to honor what she had begun,
Since the first came from a distant star far beyond the Milky Way’s most familiar sun.
A council of priestesses met this day, to convene and mark what the prophetess spoke,
Of matters concerning the descent I was to take, to liberate one from death’s sad yoke.
None may enter the netherworld, they claimed, not even to save a goddess’s own soul,
But if I were mad enough to try, then I would have to journey unto lands dark as coal.
In Eleusis there was a hidden cavern, and therein a portal known to only those elect…
Who were allowed, to know the secrets of the mysteries practiced by: a shadowy sect.
Two others made the pilgrimage with me: a man and woman said to be of divine birth,
Who could open the gates below, through means proven by the pair’s esteemed worth.
Unsanctioned by the oracle, these brave fools came to me knowing my mission dire…
And now, they led me into darkness, close to the lowest regions of brimstone and fire,
Which marked the hidden tunnels below the ways shown to visitors to Eleusis of old.
Beneath the temple of Diana, where only my guides could lead me forth, madly bold!
Seven times they uttered the words, at the gates to the place where from none return…
Until the keeper of the way came forth: with fearsome eyes that, with inner fires, burn.
He demanded a sacrifice of a black ram, which the man and woman had not brought…
And so he took his toll from their blood, tearing them both into pieces without thought.
For this payment of blood he opened the gates that cost so high a toll to cast thus wide,
Thus with fearful steps I made my way forward and seeing the way open I went inside.
Part Two: Within the Gloom
Within the gloom and darkness that lay beneath the sod I saw the souls of the two slain,
That noble man and woman: who now walked, where thickest the shadows therein lain.
I could not save them in life, and now no power could reach them in the land of death…
A host of beings sent from on high hurried me along until soon I was heaviest of breath.
Then, it seemed they vanished to some other realm of perception, leaving me to wander,
In hallways dark and caverns thick with pale green mists, with a rumbling, like thunder.
I came soon unto carven halls with sunlight from shafts in the high ceiling, drilled deep,
All the way to the surface world, and from that happier place shafts of light did creep…
Which helped to grow a beautiful garden, fed by rivers that ran through tunnels unseen.
And I did walk amongst the many trees, which grew in unearthly shades of blue, green,
As well as other colors, impossible to find in nature, yet which thrived in these regions.
In the midst of the garden was a statue of a goddess surrounded by cherubs and lions…
The one who first did partake of the fruits of this place and fell under an undead swoon.
Still she presides over those who come this way, so far from the glow of the full moon!
Sitting upon a silver chair before the statue was a young girl of some uncanny beauty…
Blonde of hair, and wearing a gown of emerald green, laurels for her crown of majesty,
Did decorate her bright locks as if she were some noble of the grand Athenian tradition.
Sharp were her features, and elfin in their way, but lovely in this part of deep perdition!
If this is darkness, she was light, and she beckoned me to come before her in reverence,
But she was no queen of the damned, rather just a shade come hither to do her penance.
She asked me whom it was I sought, for only for such reasons do the living so quest…
And I replied that the gods sent me to retrieve the shade of fallen Athena from her rest.
For long had she been missing since her grief took her beyond the cares of life itself…
I had loved her madly, and so in defiance of the oracle I came unto the place of this elf.
Part Three: The Dark Temple
The elfin girl told me to follow her unto the temple of Athena erected to be her home…
Now that she presided no longer in such residence above, nor walked in flesh and bone.
The infernal temple newly christened to her honor, I was led unto its’ haunted palisade,
Where came multitudes of ghostly people to honor the goddess even as a lonely shade!
Such was the power, of she whose wisdom guided peoples who wandered the heavens,
Even unto this very Earth, even unto this darker realm where dust is bread unleavened.
The elfin maiden took me by the hand and led me to a cloister where she did kiss me…
Bidding me to caress her smooth skin through the folks of her garments ever so gently.
She was not dead as I had thought, but like me some living being come down to there,
That place of final silence, where even this display of love evoked in others not a care!
Only I was moved my her wanton sharing of herself, and so I asked her why she did it,
As she replied that only love could conquer death, and so she prepared me as did befit.
We made love beyond the brink of ecstatic pleasure, and passed a timeless eve thusly…
For such was the way of the cloister of Athena’s infernal hall, and it was kept so justly.
When the sharing was complete, I was led naked and by the hand to meet the goddess,
By my guide: who bade me think only happy thoughts, lest it bring to the dead distress.
Into the holy of holies of that place we stepped, our feet leaving no sound ever audible,
Upon the clammy flagstones, past dim torchlight and pools of blood kept ever so full…
Until I saw the priestesses of Athena: all children, who chatted away on trivial matters.
And upon her splendid gray throne, sat she whom I vowed to set free of death’s fetters!
Before the throne was a man in a gray hooded robe, who seemed just a shadow in truth,
The only glimpsing of his countenance being, a mouth with many a fanged sharp tooth.
No malice or hatred had he, only a terrible sense of apathetic carelessness magnified…
So that not a thing moved him to tears or pity: for anything ever living, dead or deified.
Part Four: Athena Looks Back
The walls of Athena’s chamber were lined from ceiling to floor with books and scrolls,
On shelves of solid marble such as would not be subject to decay, as time onward rolls.
As I neared the throne on which the goddess sat, the robed man stepped for to interfere,
Halting me in my tracks, by hurtling at me diabolic magic from a glowing green sphere.
The elfin girl who walked at my side made a sign with her hand that dispersed the spell,
Allowing me to move once more, despite the silent protests of that hooded lord of Hell.
Thus thwarted, the gray necromancer accused me of each sin that I had ever committed,
Attempting thus to make me feel so unworthy to free the goddess so long uncomforted!
I did not deny my sins, but instead struck out with my fists against the terrible specter…
Who vanished to nothingness, laughing cruelly as I reached Athena: to thus protect her.
Athena had not diminished during her time under the ground, but remained unchanged,
Splendid in her gold gown, her arms and armor cast next to her chair but not estranged.
She told me that she had never once tasted the fruit that entraps the soul, nor ever drank,
The waters of forgetfulness that flowed from unseen reaches, and down some falls sank.
Her face was serene as I led her forth from where she languished, out from the temple…
And so we ran: as all the shades of that terrible domain were unleashed to swift trample,
To chase us down and ensure that Athena never again see the coming of the dawn star!
Haste was at our heels and so was all of Hades as we passed through every gate and bar,
The goddess was at my right and the elfin girl was at my left, each holding of my hands.
Soon it seemed we would escape the grip of eternal night and set foot upon living lands,
But cruel was fate to fill the heart of a goddess with fear, and cause her to look on back.
That made her stumble and fall, carried away to her dark temple in that mirthless black!
Soon the elfin girl and I were clear of the barriers that separate life from death’s grasp…
Though we had lost the object of our questing, as we sat in sorrow, to weep and to gasp.
Epilogue: Divine Lamentations
It was not dawn but midnight when the elfin girl and I walked on a lonely Greek road…
Between the mountains and the woodlands, where shepherds often in loneliness strode.
We were clothed once more in fitting attire, and sat for time by a campfire we kindled,
Singing songs to mourn the second passing into shade of Athena, who never dwindled!
Even when the darkness claimed her and fear finally gripped the very heart of wisdom.
Never again could we hope to challenge for her, the terrible might of Hell’s kingdom…
And so I held my elfin lover in my arms, and I sang her to sleep whilst crickets chimed.
She awoke after a while and in her hair, were the horns of a crescent moon that shined,
Revealing at last her identity, that ancient goddess no less great than Athena ever was…
Yet ever young and ever powerful was my companion, ordained by the highest of laws!
Returning to heaven, she blessed me for my valor and my compassion ere she departed,
And I decided to travel back to Delphi, where first my quest for the lost goddess started.
So many questions had I for she who presided over the seat of the oracular divinations…
As in their timeless realm, the gods sang for Athena the sweetest of divine lamentations.
Published 11th Nov 2011
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