The Longing
by Erisa Chen, Fintona Girls’ School
Years 5 – 6 Performance Poetry Finalist
Oh muses!
Sing to me the story of the pained
god of the dead.
Sing of his flooding sadness
and blazing fury
towards the gods of Olympus.
The stones chose his future.
Fate laughed as he was
discarded,
despised,
banished
down into the depths
of Gaia.
They say he
cares for no soul in his domain
cultivates the fall of his enemies
carved a kingdom from hate
But some say he
never leaves a comrade behind
and he felt like thumbscrews
were tightening their grip on him
day by day
hour by hour
Zeus
Poseidon
Hades
The three brothers
Two
bright and shining
up there
in the clouds
One
down there
in the echoing chambers
of the mind and marble
condemned
to a life of darkness.
And from the depths of the underworld
Hades looks up
at the twelve gods of Olympus
and he dreams
of a life with them
But never
would they let him accompany them
for he
rules the dead and dark.
Muses,
that is the story
of the dark lord
Hades.
Now,
let me rest.