When Orpheus,

after many years of making

beautiful music and poetry,

words and melodies

that charmed the very rocks to follow him;

When Orpheus

returned from years of travelling

and his eyes rested

on Euridice he rested

his whole being, and could not move;

When Orpheus

charmed with ease the incomparable

beauty who was Euridice

Hymen rejoiced.

But Apollo was jealous

and determined to keep his minstrel

wandering and singing and charming

rocks and trees.

He sent a serpent.

Hymen’s ceremony

was completed,

the songs were sung,

the vows made, the feast full enjoyed,

but before the hymen was broken

before drops of blood

could prove the completion

the serpent struck.

The blood that fell

fell not from ecstasy;

The blood that fell

fell out from agony.

The blood that fell

stained the earth with death

The blood that fell

wrought Orpheus bloodless.

Bloodless Orpheus did not pause – he set out

Down some profound dull tunnel – he set out

Along the road wrapped in shadows

Bloodless Orpheus did not pause – he had travelled

Many ways to many places and knew no fear –

Bloodless Orpheus did not pause.

So pale was he that Charon took him

As one dead

Across the blackened river

To the place where Cerberus stood guard.

The dog cursed Charon for bringing the living

To this forbidden place and was set

To snap out the light of life and let Orpheus enter

As he should

When Orpheus

struck a chord of such sweet notes

that the monstrous dog

curled and almost purred

in his delight.  Orpheus passed on

through the Asphfodel Fields where

he gorged on sacrificial blood to give him strength

passed on towards the palace of Hades and Proserpine.

When Orpheus

stuck a chord of such sweet notes

the misery of Tartarus was suspended,

Tantalus drank in the still sweet notes

and was refreshed;

the vultures paused in their eternal ravenning

on the perpetually renewed vitals of Tityus;

the very rock that was Sisyphus’ doom

ceased to roll.

When Orpheus

struck his chords of those sweet notes

even the dried leathern cheeks of the Furies

felt salt moist tears upon them.

Proserpine watched his journey

through her realm

and heard his desperate plea.

The passionate melodies reached her

and she spoke for Orpheus to Hades

How could they refuse him?

Hades called Euridice and set her free

to follow Orpheus

to the upper world on one condition –

as they travelled through the steely deeps

of Tartarus

Orpheus must

not look back, must not turn his head to see

if Euridice follows

Orpheus must

not turn his head to see

if Euridice follows

Orpheus must

endure the silence of not knowing

Orpheus must

wait until he and his beloved

are in the sunlight of the upper world.

Orpheus must

trust.

Those caverns measureless to man

those profound dull tunnels

those stolen shadowed halls

those endless wandering roads

the weaving blackened river

and all the time not a sound

not a murmur

not a footfall

not a breath

nothing to tell if she followed.

The madness started in those halls

and when the sunlight sharped his eyes

he turned

The madness started in those tunnels

and when the sunlight pierced his eyes

he turned

The madness started in those time consuming depths

and when the sunlight touched his eyes

he turned

and she

standing on the threshold of the world

met those scorched eyes

for a receding moment

she flashed out of his sight

she fell and fell and fell

leaving only a despairing

Farewell

hanging like lost gossamer on the air.

2

There is silence in my heart, deathly silence

I wander from place to place in a dream from which

I can never waken – a real nightmare – and all the time

I sing and play and make such sweet sounds

That rocks and lizards, leaves and birds, mountains and vales

All follow me, all worship me, all love me.

Imagine how the women fall for this fair wanderer

They hang about me like sparrows to the grain or gulls to the plough

I am the piper and they are the children of Hamelin –

Except I am going nowhere.  I seek only to hide away

And die another death; to hide away and swoon and die

I will allow the rocks and birds to hide me

To protect me from the breasted ones who would have me

And whom I would not have.  How can they imagine,

any of them, that they compare, in any detail, at any point

With the incomparable Euridice.  Ahhh, how the voicing of the word

Tears up a memory as though it were a limb torn off.

But so it is.

What?  Now the women come on angry.  Are they casting

Stones at me; and thyrsi?  Oh joy, that they may pass the

Magic of my song, may reach me with these weapons

And let me feel the pain of living, the real pain, may

Silence the silence with a natural horror.  Oh joy, I see

The first falling of blood, the first staining, not mine,

Not yet, but that will follow, no, the blood of my feathered

Protectors, the blood of the lizards, the blood of the snakes

The blood of the foxes and rabbits, that stand about me

Transfixed by my melodies.  The women are wild, truly wild.

I see them gnawing ox flanks and drinking new shed blood.

Ah, what’s that?  An uncharmed stone just hit me on the cheek.

I touch.  I lick a bloody finger.  Oh joy, that I should feel again

Some human feeling; that I should fill with terror as I see

The crazed advance.  I see them trample on the slaughtered,

Knee deep in matted fur and feathers, all soaked in blood.

They reach me. Wild bloodstained naked women, braying

And singing.  Their hands are on me.  They are ripping me apart.

They have my limbs, they eat out my organs, they laugh and gorge

But, and this is the all embracing terror, limb from limb I’m torn

And that joy of being about to die is fading because I’m still singing

This voice that measures out the action goes on talking when it should have stopped

My head is floating on some wanton river

And by its side my lyre bobs gaily –

Is this the final journey?

The sun has burnt my features

And I’m ragged, is it still I?

And rolling on a sandy beach

A snake approaches and bites me;

It seems a bit unfair.  A flash

And the snake is petrified

Ever more to be about to strike

Strong hands lift me

And I’m in a cave

Still singing

Soon I will be silenced;

Please let it be soon;.

I am not free to stop

Please Apollo, touch me,

Touch me as you touched the snake you sent

Let me walk again with Euridice

His prayer was answered

And even now they walk

Hand in hand

Some times she runs ahead and turns to look at him

Sometimes she hides and calls.

He never turns his head to look for her

His lyre he threw far into the sky

And if you venture out on a clear night

There it is still, to this day, forever silent.