Susan A. Katz
I
Apollo
you were light so pure it blinded
as it bled from heaven and made whole
the harvest made safe the flocks
made of wind music and of the breeze
song the earth blessed you the goddesses cried
out their joy at one so fair bathed you
in sweet water clear and pure wrapped
you in white veils and golden girdles thin
and limpid as the air
the gods beheld in you a promise that they
nurtured not on mother’s milk but on the heady
brew of nectar and ambrosia it raced
like fire through your veins pulsed
within your infant form expanding flesh
and muscle into grace
and brawn and you rose up a man
beauty carved in delicate detail
the contours of your face
strength within you
was a call to venture forth
with arrows on your back descending
from Olympus crossing miles of endless
miles arriving at the Valley of Crissa
there the nymph Telphousa bent
on treachery sent you to the savage gorge
of Pernassus where the serpent
Python made his lair
the air fare shook with his indignant rage
his bellows moved the ground
beneath your feet his breath
was poison flame that scorched
your skin forging your courage
into steel you urged your arrow fly
the serpent writhed
and twisted in its agony and sought
the forest for a place to die
in your victory so casually won there was
begun the seeds of self esteem
of glory girding youthful limbs all
that youth and passion could conceive
within the reach of your
expanding grasp and then
your eyes beheld and fell like rain
upon the painful beauty that was Daphne
II
Daphne
you were the child of water brought forth
like wind swept foam into
the day daughter of Peneius
soft and fair desire
was for you the breeze that stroked
the trees summer rain that fed
the waters of your birth until they spilled
beyond their banks and nursed
to green the pillows of the earth
nymph of forest and of glade
you roamed at will and kissed
the faceless lips of wind begged
your father for the gift
of carefree days to let you live your life
within the image of Diana woman
who need never know
the touch of man
yet your face and form spoke
promises that wishes had no power
to unsay your father granted license
from of the terms of marriage
and of men knowing that
the blend of spirit and of beauty
that you set no store by would undo
you in the end and as you flew
across the meadow like a shaft
of light in love with everything
in nature unshackled unrestrained Apollo
spied you and his gaze fell
on you with the weight
of chains
III
Daphne & Apollo
their gazes locked like warriors
upon a battlefield of wills both
struck by Cupid’s malice
Apollo bore a gold-tipped point
within his breast exciting love and Daphne
felt the leaden spike
strike true turning her soul
to dread
Apollo loved her longed to touch her
hold her teach her all
that was encompassed in the word
delight he called to her bestowed
on her a smile that clearly
was the source of sun and kept at bay
the shadows
of the night and having everything he’d
ever cherished fall like ripened
fruit into his grasp waited for her blush
to fade her eyes to answer “Yes!”
Daphne felt like fangs his eyes
consume her flesh and fled her hair
streaming out behind her (Apollo longed
to lose himself within its scent) her limbs
were bare and white (stirring within
the painful seeds of need) her eyes
were bright with fear her voice
a melody of dread she raced
the wind and won and still
Apollo’s passion spurred him on
“Stay,” he begged her, Stay, for I am not
your foe. Do not flee from me as a lamb
flees from the wolf, or a dove the hawk.
It is for love that I pursue you.”
but the fright in Daphne’s
breast would not be stilled and on
she raced growing more lovely
in his sight this god who slew the
serpent who sung the flowers
from the soil grew fierce
impatient and increased his speed
until she felt his breath like flame
upon her hair and called her father’s
name “Help me! Open the earth
to enclose me or change this form
which has brought me
to despair.”
her words were scarcely firm
upon the wind when a stiffness gripped
her limbs her flesh coarsened to bark
her hair blossomed
into leaves Apollo’s fingers traced
the trunk and felt the wood-flesh tremble
at his soft caress and in fair Daphne’s
place rooted and bowed a laurel tree stood
he who wished the stars
into the heavens could not
have dreamed such vacant silence
or known that innocent skin could turn
sullen as stone nor fathom how the soul
of one so free would seek
its nourishment in soil running
deeper than the shallow sunless grip
of grave beneath the body
he had longed to touch the blood
had thickened into sap limbs that had
danced before his eyes in flurries
of cream and ivory raised brittle fingers
to the sky and all the truth
he’d ever dared believe
became the substance of a lie
IV
Epilogue
the heart is hollow yet can
not be filled by force
or by desire desire has no form
but is the all-consuming arrogance
of flame your heart Apollo
victim of itself learned
that there are gifts not even gods
by fierce passions driven
can wrest by force they must
be freely given