Poems From Providence - The Poet's Press
Poems From Providence - The Poet's Press
Poems From Providence - The Poet's Press
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3<br />
GANYMEDE’S PLEA<br />
Ganymede offers his apology:<br />
“Ask all the Heavens, great Mistress Hera,<br />
ask any god or spirit, ask zephyrs,<br />
ask all who watch and listen down below<br />
if ever in dream or prayer I wished<br />
to be the friend and favorite of Zeus.<br />
I did not summon him. I was no one.<br />
He lifted me up to high Olympus.<br />
He tells me he loves me; I believe him.<br />
“He changes shape to please me endlessly —<br />
bearded or smooth, boyish and soft one night,<br />
perfumed ringlets of a singing Persian,<br />
then hard as a Spartan he comes in armor.<br />
He beams the white and gold of Apollo,<br />
then Ares’ copper cast and raven locks,<br />
and then he towers black, an Ethiope.<br />
He is a boy to my innocent boy,<br />
then a man to teach me undreamt pleasures.<br />
To think that Zeus has but one Ganymede,<br />
but I, in one, have had a hundred loves!<br />
I beg the clouds to part, the stones to sound,<br />
the room to explode with his next surprise.<br />
“And yet he still loves you, Mistress Hera.<br />
Drinking, he swears an oath by you, calls you<br />
Great Hera, the Old Lady, even his<br />
good Old Lady. He always honors you<br />
when hearing the vows of the jostling gods.<br />
Knowing your name so loved, so highly praised,<br />
how dearly I wish you did not hate me.<br />
“I know that what I take from him is yours — “<br />