#And delos was flocked with kingly swans
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'THE GREAT GOD APOLLO IS DEAD'
the great god apollo is dead, florid
blood like smattered roses on the grecian
asphalt, where once delos was flocked
full-circle by kingly swans, now, the nymphs
weep for their great King, his golden breast pearlescent
as ichor and odor of marigold ambrosia bleeds
like the crust of a spanakopita onto the laurels and pine.
oh apollo! great god of mystery. you who conquered
the python and cursed cassandra with a dream of dew,
traipsing across coveted flocks with lyre, stealing maidenheads,
robbing sheep, great artificer of device, great machine of poetry.
who nibbled homer's ears (for blindness makes the better of us)
and tickled catallus' ass with a sun-bright bow - rammed straight
up to his head, aright! what would sappho be without your sister’s
sweet kiss on the isle of lesbos in the grace of doe-eyed artemis? for,
those fairy maids danced twine for you in Asterion's labyrinth.
midas' touch is pale compared to the flax of your dead hair, apollon!
vain god apollo, beneficent wondermaker, he of cymbal and philosophy.
when calliope braids your drying hair, mourning as the many men and women
you had bull-jump in Knossos over your blooming corpse (was hyacinthus' disc-death
any worse than you, forgotten Apollyon of the Pit?) cast out of temples long ago,
fain wanderer of fair fortune, the ephebe visitor of Germania who could not die -
timbrels echo in Hyperborea as the bears of cold climes (where dahlias grow)
clamor at the rain that falls on your bronze pelvis.
There goes the grass.
There, go the ashes.
#apollo#poem#cassandra#calliope#hyacinthus#that time Rilke wrote about Apollo going to Hyperborea for the winter and it was just Germany#Also the fact most historians think Hyperborea to the Ancient Greeks WAS Germany#And delos was flocked with kingly swans#“Where the dahlias grow” - Swan Island#Lohengrin#Schwaneninsel#“I've spit prophecies in your eye like Cassandra and damned you”#Thanks Apollo#Greek Mythology
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