Moon-Eye Diamond
© Surazeus
2025 06 27

Sunlight flashes through trees into her eyes
as Orphne runs swiftly round gnarly trunks,
and slips through thick veil of blackberry vines
to escape gray wolves snapping at her heels
along Gorgyra River in huge cave
where she falls exhausted to catch her breath.

Shuffling toward her from the underworld,
Marsyas, draped in tattered wolf-fur cape,
holds up bright diamond to observe her face,
then grins and offers lime for her to eat,
so she accepts the fruit with gentle smile,
but as she peels he swings wand at her head.

Just before the thick wand fractures her skull
Akheron grasps it with his brawny hand,
then punches face of the lascivious satyr
who shrieks in rage that he found the nymph first,
but Orphne grins and snatches from his hand
huge diamond that gleams with light of the moon.

While Marsyas crawls away in fogged gloom,
Orphne and Akheron follow the river
to their secret cave in the underworld
where she places the bright Moon-Eye Diamond
beside the emerald, ruby, and topaz
that she had stolen from the satyr gang.

Setting son Askalaphos on her lap,
Orphne tells him the legend of the gems
when gang of satyrs many years ago,
lead by Hades, fought the dragon Typhon
to help Pluto attain the underworld,
and gain control over huge jewel mines.

Searching for strong workers to mine the jewels,
the satyr gang attacked farm villages
to kidnap young men from their weeping wives
and forced them to labor in caves of death,
including her brave father Orion,
who died when he was crushed by falling rocks.

Giving Askalaphos sliced pear to eat,
Orphne explains that she now seeks revenge
by finding each member of the satyr gang
and stealing precious jewels from their hands,
then smiles as her little boy with big eyes
plays with the jewels that gleam with eerie light.

While Akheron fishes in Gorgyra River,
Orphne plays heart-enchanting melodies
on long flute she carved from arm bone of Typhon,
but neither notice the large eagle owl
that watches their boy on the river shore,
eyes gleaming red as pomegranate fruit.

surazeus.blogspot.com/2025/06/…

Orpheus leads visitors through the Natural Science Museum of Zarathia, showing school children the collection of jewels that once belonged to the notorious satyr gang of Hades.

#Poetry #Poem #Pastoral #Necropastoral #MetaModernism #Transrealism #NewSublimity #NewRomanticism #AmericanDream #Cinemism #Existentialism #Surrealism #NegativeCapability #NewGnosticism #MetaRealism #NewTranscendentalism #Astarism