Bobby Kaleel ’15
Sing god, sing of the ignorance of the small girl, daughter of strict parents,
That dooming interest which condemned the girl.
The disobedience caused the scales of fate to go against her favor,
The girl’s strong willed nature made her braver.
She disobeyed her parents at every turn,
They warned her that one day she’d learn.
Her mother questioned herself about her daughter,
‘Ah me, my child, your birth was bitterness. Why did I raise you? (bk 1. 413)
At dawn, one day the small girl said to her parents,
“I have heard so much about Mt Olympus and the gods,
Someday I will take a voyage to their place”.
I have heard of “their glittering bronze
blazed through the sky to heaven, an amazing sight.” (bk 2. 179)
The darkness of curiosity veiled her eyes (bk 17. 60)
To her dark fate she would soon encounter.
Her parent’s words had magnificent wings
“The gods are wicked immortals who commit godless acts.
If you go there, you will no longer be our child.”
“She disobeyed. At once she laced up on her feet
her lovely sandals, feminine golden shoes” (bk 24. 225)
Her arrival was met by the god Zeus.
Zeus asks “why do you have white skin, skewered in earth?” (bk 15. 12)
Scared at the sight of Zeus, she replies “oh,
I believe I saw something that frightened me”.
Zeus asks “What did you see, ignorant girl?
“I saw a man being brutally murdered”
“That was Hector feeling the rage of Achilles”
“Then I saw a destructive fiery blaze”
“Those were the Achaeans’ ships ablaze”
“Then I saw a man being drowned by a river”
“That was the river god, Scamander,
attempting at a Achilles life.”
“Oh Zeus I was frightened when I saw you,
from the bottom of your home Olympus.
You looked like an enraged bull ready to strike.”
“Aha, you have seen the gods in their true form,
I’ve been waiting for a new mortal to
betray…I mean befriend, for a long time.
Follow me for you will have godlike powers”
In freight the small girl replied “okay”.
What the girl did not know was that she
sold her mortal life to the gods of Olympus.
With that her destiny was fulfilled.
“My child, you’ll follow with me,
to some place where you’ll be put to work
at menial tasks, slaving for a cruel master” (bk 24. 570)
For the rest of time this mortal was enslaved
by Zeus and the gods.
This cycle was repeated over and over again,
with the gods enslaving mortals for eternity.
Grimm, Jacob, and Wilhelm Grimm. “Frau Trude.” Grimm 043:. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2013.