Mercurial Melody Of Love
© Surazeus
2026 08 30

Picking ripe berries from the laurel tree,
that poison tears of angels with despair,
young Lycidas whistles heart-aching tune
in cautious winds of the mellowing year,
then wades into the river of strange dreams
and sings mercurial melody of love.

Three muses gathered at the sacred well,
that springs from stone where Jove lounges all day,
recite brave songs that quick poets transcribe
with blood of angels on parched demon skin,
while Lycidas plays lyre of Mercury
and stamps his feet in tune with river mud.

Nursed together on the hill of pear trees,
Lycidas, and his best friend Satyrus,
herd flock of sheep beside the flowing stream
to batten flock with fresh dews of the night
where evening star gleams in the westering wheel,
then plays slim oaten flute with aching heart.

Tune of his oaten flute in desert caves,
where wild thyme blooms from secret wound of hope,
echoes soft in hazel copse where wrens sing
to conjure from lush fairy mounds of fate
ghosts of wise Druids who share secret codes
recorded by old bards in wood-carved runes.

Down Hebrus tides of endless water flow
Lycidas wanders among fruited trees
while lithe Satyrus dances with fierce grace
to show him fane entangled with grape vines
where skull of Orpheus, studded with gems,
prophesies rise and fall of great empires.

Beside the fountain Arethuse, that flows
free from deep strangeness of our spinning Earth,
Lycidas dances with bride of his heart,
star-eyed Amaryllis in linen gown,
who asks if he plays Herald of the Sea
as son of Neptune in the horse-drawn cart.

Disguised as prophet of the broken mask,
Lycidas plays Alpheus with dread voice
who visits bottom of the monstrous world
in quest for valley where Bellerus dwells,
yet finds his woeful shepherd friends distraught
at news of his death in the Hebrus Stream.

Recording deeds of heroes in strict verse
that encodes tragic song of human hearts
in Doric lay that few interpret well,
Lycidas strides as Genius of the shore
to teach young children art of poetry,
expressing heart ache in transcendent spell.

surazeus.blogspot.com/2026/08/…

Orpheus comforts Satyrus as he weeps for death of his friend Lycidas, then takes him to Garden of Eden where Eve gives him ripple apple to eat.

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