ORION
Orion, great hunter of Boeotia
And the handsomest man alive
Was son to Poseiden and Euryale
For Merope he took the dive.
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She was the daughter of Oenopion
Whose father was Dionysus
Before he would agree to the union
He must clear wild beasts from Chios.
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Just this Orion set about doing
Killing wild things on the island
Bringing Merope the pelts each evening
Working toward his wedding band.
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But her papa had other ideas
Wanting to keep her on the shelf
He sent out rumors of more beasts because
He secretly loved her himself.
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One night drinking up Oenopion's wine
Inflamed, he broke into her room
Declaring "Now I will take what is mine!"
He forced her to give up her bloom.
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At dawn Oenopion invoked his pop
Dionysus to send in his satyrs
With wine they filled Orion to the top
Whereupon Oenopion put out his eyes.
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He then flung him blind onto the seashore
An oracle announced the remedy
Explaining how his sight could be restored
To relieve himself of his tragedy.
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He must first travel to the east and turn
His eyesockets towards Helius
At the point where he first rises to burn
The earth with sunlight dawn-to-dusk.
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Orion at once rowed out to the sea
Chasing pings of Cyclop's hammer
Reaching Lemnos he entered the smithy
Of Hephaestus, metal slammer.
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He snatched an apprentice named Cedalion
To serve as his personal guide
They crossed land-and-sea to furthest ocean
To fulfill the prophetic ride.
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There rosy-fingered saffron-robed Eos
With Orion fell madly in love
She then convinced her brother Helius
To restore his sight from Above.
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From Oenopion revenge he now sought
But could find him nowhere in town
This because of what Hephaestus had wrought
A hiding chamber underground.
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From Chios he sailed on to Crete island
Where he thought Oenopion fled
Of Minos he was the grandson
Could he by his grandpere be protected?
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But there he encountered the great huntress
Who sought to waylay the hunter
Rather than for this great wrong to redress
Would he but come hunting with her?
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But Apollo could not forget his crime
Committed on holy Delos
Nor could he forgive Orion the time
He agreed to couch with Eos.
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For this indiscretion the Dawn daily
Still blushes in memorial
Apollo too remembered the way he
Boasted he'd clear the Earth of beasts withal.
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He feared that Artemis his twin sister
Might fall also for Orion
Taking his concerns to the Mother Earth
He arranged for a great Scorpion.
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This monstrous beast would pursue the hunter
Who first attacked him with arrow
Then with sword, but could not pierce its armor
Which yielded not to a mortal weapon.
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Orion dived into the sear and swam
Toward the safety of Delos
It's not that he was going on the lam
But seeking safety from Eos.
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Apollo alerted Artemis then
Playing his sister for the fool
"Dost thou seest in yonder far ocean?"
About to play a game so cruel.
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"That black object bobbing about asea
Far away, close to Ortygia?
That the head of a nasty villain be"
But used his name from Boetia.
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For at home they knew him as Candoon
In reference to the great hunter
Alas, not something that she was in on
On verge of tragic blunder.
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"This foul villain seduced your friend Opos
You know, one of your priestesses
The Hyperborean ones you discuss
As being among the purest?"
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"I challenge you to transfix him right now
With one of your heavenly darts!"
Artemis aimed and let fly an arrow
Legend says she never misses her marks.
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Swimming out to retrieve her quarry, she
Discovers the bloody jest
She's shot Orion through the head at sea
At her brother's treacherous request.
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In great grief she implores Apollo's son
The great healer Asclepius
To revive the great hunter Orion
But destroys him a thunderbolt of Zeus.
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Artemis set the image of Orion
In all its luminosity
Amongst stars, pursued by a scorpion
The chase lasts all eternity.
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