Nysa

[constantine]

from the mountains of nysa
he journeyed westward
with spotted lynx, white-dappled fawn
and the food of the centaurs
that brings both wisdom and madness

we followed as he wandered
and when the mushroom was found
there we built the mighty walls
this house of evil and sorrow
where even gods are the slaves of fate

he will confront you in your blasphemy
he will entice you to the sacred grove
have you spy secretly upon mysteries
but the daughters will find you out
and the mother will devour her son

he is the man who is not a man
born of his father's thigh
consumed by the sacred fire
semele mourns her motherhood
as agave dances upon his blood

[saw]

a strong mythological poetic expression brother d,.... has star power,
and more...great last line...it hangs on your tongue.........

[constantine]

i was wondering what was up with you - still am, for that matter. good to hear from you, brother saw.

[Perdida]

fanbloodytastic Dino...

[mnaz]

What a fascinating god, Dionysus. Some say that Christianity began as a Judaized verson of "pagan mystery religions," and the story of Jesus has parallels to Dionysus. Such as the wine thing. Good one, dino.

[constantine]

thank you, perdida. i'm so happy you like it. you're neato!

mnaz, you're neato , too. here's an essay i wrote that's sort of relevant to some of the ideas in the poem. particularly from the paragraph beginning, "In the preface to the later editions of Graves’ “The Greek Myths”..."

http://www.studioeight.tv/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=14080

[mnaz]

thanks for the background, dino; really ties together the poem's imagery.

and that's quite amazing...

...Christianity and other Near Eastern religions and their derivation from earlier existing mushroom cults.

my old preacher would be dumbfounded!

mushrooms also help propel the cult of Grateful Dead heads. some people think there's a folk/religious tie-in to, but the band members claim they got the name randomly from a "game of dictionary," though their accounts don't match each other...