ORPHEUS
Son of Thracian King Oeagrus
And the Muse Calliope
Taught to play the lyre by Muses
He made move the rocks and trees.
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'Twas Apollo gave him the lyre
He used to enchant wild beasts
His music drew like a pyre
Ancient oaks like bees to feasts.
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Orpheus joined the Argonauts
With whom he sailed to Colchis
His music freed them from tight spots
Proving where real power is.
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When back he married Eurydice
Settling among savages
Near Tempe she meets Aristaeus
Who her attempts to ravage.
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She trod a serpent as she fled
And died of its poisonous bite
To Tartarus Orpheus sped
The clutch of Hades to spite.
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With lyre he raced to Thesprotis
Using the passage at Aornum
There he charmed the dog Cerberus
So too the ferryman Charon.
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Winning three Judges of the Dead
With music sweet and plaintive
Tortures of the damned suspended
That sweet Eurydice might live.
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These with music he won over
Taught to him by the Muses
To return his love to clover
All that remained was Hades.
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The music his savage heart soothed
Upper World would go Eurydice
But one condition must be smoothed
For him to gain her release.
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Only when she was safely back
Under the light of the sun
Could he then turn himself to track
The progress of his loved one.
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Up the dark passage she followed
Guided by sounds of his lyre
If any care for her he showed
Consequences would be dire.
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Only when he reached the sunlight
Did he turn to check her there
In this way after his long plight
He lost his love forever.
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When Dionysus invaded Thrace
Orpheus failed to honor him
Teaching other things to his race
Than matched the god's darkest whim.
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He preached other sacred mysteries
Against rites sacrificial
He proclaimed his god Helius
Called Apollo, best of all.
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Overcome by his vexation
Dionysus set the Maenads
On him for cruel execution
They knew to make roll the heads.
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In Macedonia at Deium
The temple of Apollo
Where Orpheus makes delirium
Preaching of the high and low.
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Maenads letting husbands enter
Seize the weapons stacked outside
Bursting madly into center
Commit holy genocide.
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These crazed, fanatic womenfolk
Followers the god of wine
Through their veins happily let soak
Drug of mushrooms on which they dine.
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Hallucinations, massive strength
Senseless rioting, energy
These the results fro the whole length
Of dosage, a drugged synergy.
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As such they would do Orpheus
As Hera had done without meds
When newly-born Dionysus
The Titans had torn to shreds.
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Murdering the husbands forthwith
They tore limb-from-limb Orpheus
Then, to fulfill the gruesome myth
His head they tossed into Hebrus.
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Severed, his head flowed the river
Singing all the way to Lesbos
So treated, this music-giver
Outraged those on Olympus.
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His limbs gathered the sad Muses
As Leibethra buried them
There the nightingale refuses
To sing naught but his anthem.
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At the river named Helicorn
Sought to cleanse themselves the Maenads
They hoped they could escape the scorn
Heaped by the Olympiads.
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But the River-god dived under
And disappeared for four miles
Thus he tore their plans asunder
Escaping guilt through his wiles.
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'Twas Maenad promiscuity
Condemned most by Orpheus
But what angered Aphrodite
Dealt not with Dionysus.
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Much like any good musician
Or poet, for that matter
Orpheus took the position
On love that her role shattered.
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But, her fellow Olympians
His murder could not justify
Dionysus turned his minions
To oak trees so they'd survive.
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Meanwhile a Lemnian serpent
Jealous, attacked Orpheus' head
Apollo flashed that instant
Converting the snake to stone--Dead!
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His head at Antissa they laid
In cave sacred to Dionysus
In this way for his crime he paid
Hosting the head of Orpheus.
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There it prophesied day and night
Stealing Apollo's business
From the oracle at Delphi
As well Gryneium and Clarus.
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With these oracles deserted
Apollo flew to the cave
Over the head he exorted
"Cease singing, my business to save!"
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Thereupon the head fell silent
But his lyre would survive him
Drifting also to the island
It would strum celestial hymns.
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Up in a Lesbos temple laid
Where to Apollo they pray
The greatest honor to be paid
Let the lyre forever play.
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With the blessings of Olympus
On Muses' intercession
Apollo honored Orpheus
Making his lyre a constellation.
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