The Fall of Man

Creation of the Cosmos

Mirrored in the gloss of endless abyss,
The face of formless Chaos churned his plane,
Mating with the depths of Night. Chaos kissed
Her nothingness in tumbled disarray,
Night's sister looked on in envy, Darkness,
From Hades' dark depths, misty Tartarus.
Daughter of Gaia, the Earth, and Eros,
Who would give birth to the Serpent, Typhon,
While Night gave birth to Daylight and Brightness.

First formed after Chaos was wide Earth's
Bosom, and then came the god Eros' birth.
Of all the immortal gods, his beauty
Unmatched would make all men weak in the knees,
Dropping reason, changing it for folly,
Eros tames the heart of everybody,
Even the very gods. Earth bore Heaven,
Which was when Almighty Zeus parted them,
Dividing Daylight from Night, the first day
Of Creation.
                           As soon as it came, went,
Then waters appeared, with a firmament,
An expanse whereby water from water
Would forever be driven asunder.

Heaven himself arched above his sister,
Earth, and birthed the barren Sea so swollen
With waves, without Earth's delightful pleasures,
But the Earth loved Heaven, who bore Ocean,
Deep-churning, and the Earth had eleven,
Children, last of which was crooked Kronos.

Brightness settled between Earth and Heaven,
Fiery Æther flashed upwards without weight,
Where they'd once lay in a heap, disparate,
Elements formed harmony, a union,
(Bounded by Zeus) beneath which was Daylight.

Zeus viewed the vast immeasurable abyss
Of Chaos' jumbled heap, its mass endless.
A wine-dark purple plane of surging waves,
Held by Æolus' howling hurricanes
From beneath, suspended in empty space,
Adorned with innumerable flickering stars,
Were disparate worlds, each formed spheres, as one.
Zeus silenced all with one booming command,
Ceasing the seas. Stillness. Each in their place.
His voice was like lightning shattering cedars,
The abyss at once calmed, darkness unformed,
Deep in Chaos was the world, yet unborn.
Its fluid mass conglobed, solidified,
The world hung upon its centre, self-poised
In balance, hostile to all forms of life.
Measuring the earth with a golden compass,
He determined its proper circumference.

At this, Zeus gathered the waters as one
Under Heaven, and so dry land appeared,
Earth. Zeus saw that it was good and was pleased.
With all drawn together and well-ordered,
The deep sleeping stars awakened and blazed
Throughout the heavens, in every region.

Then Zeus ordered herbs, fruits, seeds which would yield
Nourishment, fruits of the Earth from the field...

Zeus then divided Daylight from dark Night,
One was greater, the other lesser light.
Twelve immortal gods on Olympus,
And lesser divinities like Eros,
And Hades, Dionysus or Kronos,
Whose throne was ousted and reign surpassed by Zeus,
That wedded the golden-slippered Hera,
She whom the gods held in as much reverence,
As her husband himself. Then Athena,
Sprung from the head of Zeus, in full armour.
Her fabulous birth came out of the mind,
Where wisdom, and sound judgement are derived.
The grey-eyed goddess, wearing garlands,
And a golden crown adored with blossoms.
From the sea, Poseidon, the Earth-Shaker
Emerged upon his golden chariot,
Twin steeds with bronze horse-shoes bare him along,
Dolphins vault over his ocean carriage.
Next, winged Hermes, messenger of the gods.
Then the corn-stalked Earth-Mother, Demeter.
War-like Ares. Artemis the huntress.
Ruling the hearth and home is Hestia.
Apollo the healer, and Hephæstus...

... Air gave way to soaring birds, and welcomed
Them. The waters harboured glittering fish,
And Earth was home to all manner of wild beasts,
Creatures that graze, and lowly things which creep,
The smallest dwelt underground or took flight,
The largest were granted stature and might,
When Zeus was ready to bring them to light.
Thus Almighty Zeus made all creatures
That emerged from the bowels of the waters
Which give life. Great whales that swim in the Sea,
And birds that fly, every creature alive...

...At this time only the gods and brute beasts
Dwelt upon the face of the world, and so each
Creature was assigned either strength or speed.
Prometheus, son of Iapetus
Was charged with this task. Epimetheus
Begged him to do it, and Prometheus
Allowed him to distribute their powers.
All species were with protection endowed,
And clothed with thick hair, or by toughened skin,
To ward off Boreas' wintery wind.
Yet Epimetheus had exhausted
All the potency he had been granted,
So the daring Prometheus required
Some more, thus he stole Hephæstus' fire
And Athena's arts, through stealth and guile...

...To Hades was Prometheus thrown down,
Past Cereberus the three-headed hound,
To the rolling stream of the Acheron,
Boiling quagmires, eddies belch slime and sand,
On whose banks waits the ferryman, Charon,
And guarding this river of Tartarus,
Then takes him on the flaming Phlegethon,
Punting his boat, the colour of burnt iron,
On to the rolling river Cocytus,
And nine-fold windings of the Styx' swamps.

Sisyphus pushed his boulder up the hill,
And every time he did it rolled back down,
Each trip it shrunk, smaller, and smaller still,
Always drenched in sweat, covered in dust clouds,
The fruitless task, so absurd in his mind,
Malcontent, or good, never satisfied,
The futility of man's endeavours.

The fear of the gods was Tantalus' doom,
His infernal fate, the whims of fortune.

Just then he saw a vision of Tityos,
Prone, his heart from his chest being eaten
By two vultures, that his arms couldn't fend off:
A wretched spirit, demolished by love,
Caught in his own snare, bitten with passion,
Gnawed by jealousy, by birds of prey torn.

So Prometheus, for stealing from Zeus
The fire from his sun chariot, with twigs,
Kindling, sharing them with men, and for doing this:
Round a pillar with unbreakable chains,
Was to have his liver torn out each day,
(Renewed each morning, would never decay)
By an eagle, and every day the same.
Seeing a mere glimpse of the gods' glowing flame,
Showing scant reverence for divine nature,
Presuming he'd heights of knowledge attained,
And the gnawing, devouring of his liver:
Was worry, anxiety and fear...

...In the beginning, Zeus made a Golden Age,
When, through faith, unwritten laws were obeyed.
There were no judges upon the world's face,
No punishments of which to be afraid.
No pines were hewn down on their mountain homes,
Cut to pieces and then fashioned into boats,
No empires forged, men knew just their own shores.
Cities were not yet girded by broad moats,
They had no bugles, armour, shields or swords,
Untroubled, for soldiers their was no need,
People of the world lived in harmony
And peace, enjoying life's pace, leisurely.
The earth's crust was unbroken by the plough,
Untouched by the mattock, for until now
Men foraged blackberries, cherries, strawberries,
Every fruit and food sprung up naturally.
Warm soothing zephyrs caressed the flowers
Which grew, likewise wild corn and wheat arose.
Rivers of nectar flowed with nourishment,
A land of milk and honey, made for men,
As happy as the gods, men were content
Without work or sorrow. They were ageless,
Forever young, untouched by diseases.
Death was a dream. Nature gifted them fruits
Unasked for and copiously supplied,
As well as foods which grew up from their roots.
Paradise on earth is where they'd reside...

...Zeus was not eaten like his brothers,
Swapped for a cloth-wrapped stone, Kronos swallowed
His children, eating up Time which followed,
Kronos' wheel's ever changing nature.
Vast Earth formed a sickle of adamant,
And with her saw-toothed scimitar, hid,
Ouranos descended, in love and want,
Encircling all the Earth completely, and
Hidden, Kronos reached out with both his hands,
Took the sickle and cut off his vitals,
Threw them behind him, and where the blood dropped,
One year on would spring Furies and Giants,
When Zeus usurped the power of Kronos,
Cast him down to infernal Tartarus,
As his flesh fell and was felt by the sea,
From the foam sprung shapely Aphrodite,
Surpassing all in charm, grace and beauty,
The goddess who won the prize from Paris...