Because of him...

Cognac diamonds lit with passion's fire
Yours is the touch that ignites my desire
Dreams of tomorrow built today
Bring perfect images to guide our way
A yearning that burns brighter than stars above
You've taught me the real meaning of love.

Nyx

(Greek Creation Myth)

An abyssmal void-
Dark, vast, and bitterly cold -
The powerful Nyx sat alone,
No one for her to behold.
A grand idea did strike -
A beautiful golden egg she'd lay
And selflessly warm the orb,
Sacrificing herself day after day.
Years and years did past,
And still our fair Nyx
Warmed her precious golden egg
In hopes the universe would be fixed.
Until finally a large crack
Throughout the space did ring
And the two halves of the shell,
Their curvatures did bring
The atmosphere - our loving sky
And breathable, clean air;
They also brought the very Earth upon
Which the humans labored with care.

Aengus and Caer Ibormeith

(Celtic Mythology)


A lovely maiden, fair of face
And silent, ghostly form
Doth snuck into Aengus’s room
Until unrequited love hath born.
He dreamt of her nightly –
In dreams he wished to stay –
And rued the sun’s dawning
With the passing of every day.
Illness took hold of the man
And throughout body and mind did spread
Until a power physician was summoned
In fear he’d soon be dead.

A search was called –
Looking high, looking low –
But years did pass without avail
While Aengus’s love did grow.
Finally love and luck, it seems,
Met to quench his lonely thirst.
But travel to Loch Bel Dracon
Was the journey to make first.
Upon the quiet, rocky shores,
Aengus did find silver maidens fair
Surrounding his love, Caer Ibormeith,
Whose visage at his heart did tear.

Trying to secure her for our hero,
His people did plead in vain.
So upon the lands came a shower of blood
To help quell his eternal pain.
Her father begged for sweet mercy,
His anguish echoing in his word.
He could not promise the fair maiden
For on even years, she doth become a bird.
So upon the next year, taking great haste,
Aengus traveled to win the girl’s heart.
The pair of swans sealed their love with a swim
And vowed never again to part.

Venus

a goddess full of grace –
born of the pristine sea foam –
she is the protector of love.

fair in face,
she loves to roam
and watch her worship from above.

struck by her son cupid’s arrow,
she finally settled down
to wed her heart’s only true one.

in admiration that doth grow,
her awesome name, like a jeweled crown,
belongs to the second rock from the sun.

Sagittarius

a noble creature with a gentle soul,
he lives in a land full of strife.
pure of heart with eye of coal,
he leads a quiet life.

skilled in many fields, including theology,
everyone know his name – of course.
Teaching heroes of Grecian mythology
was this half-man, half-horse.

wounded with a poisoned dart,
this immortal creature could not fully heal.
not even teaching his beloved music and art
could this immense pain steal.

given the chance to change one’s fate,
he traveled down charon’s way.
he was chained to a cliff where an eagle ate
his rejuvenated liver every day.

he was not forced into this action –
he went merely because he could.
so zeus placed Chiron in the stars’ devotion
to always remind of others of his good.

The Pleiades

seven beauties born from
the same titan of a man –
they lived a life of
freedom and casual ease.
pledged to follow a
single cause and a sole leader,
they frolicked in the forest
all their days.
frightened by a stranger,
a handsome man never before seen
by these sisters,
they pled to their goddess for salvation.
turned to snow white pigeons,
they flew up and up
until they took their places in the stars.

Pisces

a mother and son—
such a lovely pair—
did sit upon the bank,
sunning their skin so fair.

enjoying their lazy day
relaxing in the morning sun,
neither of them knew
of the danger to come.

interrupting their day and
destroying the peace at hand,
a giant rose from the river
and set his heavy foot on the land.

the pair did spy the foe
and for their lives did fear,
so changing into a pair of fish
they jumped into the water near.

to immortalize the event and
remind those near and far,
athena took their new forms
and placed them among the stars.

Milky Way

a tiny babe, innocent and free,
was doomed to a horrible fate.
to falsify an oracle’s vision,
the babe’s siblings his father ate.
His mother frantic – out of her mind –
determined to save her own,
she gave the father a swaddling bundle
wrapped around a large stone.

left upon a mountain side,
the innocent one did rest.
when the dinner bell did call for him,
he nursed from a mother goat’s chest.
the infant grew strong and proud,
his heritage showed true.
then came the time to fulfill destiny
and turn the skies grey from blue.

he fought a battle, long and hard,
with those from whom he came.
he overthrew their cruelties
and slew them one and the same.
Recovering his siblings,
they ascended to a peak on high.
the path they followed in the stars
was a splash of goat’s milk across the sky.

Mercury

just a babe and
already so fair of face,
this nimble young god
could win any race.

with snakes twining up,
he takes winged staff in hand
and delivers to all
godly messages across the land.

inventor of instruments divine
and with a sense of humor sure to amuse,
he strives to teach mankind
practical arts it could us.

with beauty and never-ending grace,
there could be only one.
so for all his good, kind deeds,
he shares his name with the planet closest the sun.

Mars

as the god of war, he doth strive
to keep the spirit of battle alive.

in the hearts of men across the land,
he renews the lust to keep sword in hand.

with a fiery temper in so important a one,
he lends his name to the red planet – fourth from the sun.

always keeping his true kith and kin very near,
his moons are named for sons – “Panic” and “Fear.”

he continues to amaze, awe, and surprise –
and someday we’ll view his surface with our own eyes.

Lyra

a beautiful instrument born
of pure mischief and glee,
the lyre’s lovely sounds haunt
a listener’s heart with a woeful melody.

in the hands of apollo
the lyre’s notes did loudly ring,
but in son orpheus’s hands
the instrument seemed to sing.

his only comfort after eurydice’s demise,
the lyre ultimately caused his downfall.
while strumming a tune full of sorrow and woe,
it drowned out the maenads’ siren call.

ripping the man limb from limb,
they eagerly sever his head.
throwing the body into the hebrus,
they celebrated once he was dead.

to mourn his passing,
the muses great effort gave
to gather all his body’s limbs
and commit them to a grave.

and in remembrance of
this tale of love, pure and true,
zeus placed the lyre for all to see
in the midnight’s inky blue.

Libra

lady justice walked the land,
the scales of justice in her hand.
these scales of metal and heavy wood
weighed the balance betwixt evil and good.

she used these scales everyday
to keep people moving on their way—
making sure to keep them on their path
so as not to disturb fate’s aftermath.

to remind those of us believers
of exactly where we are,
the scales were placed in the sky
amongst the night stars.

Leo

the king of beasts,
full of pride,
the lion of nemea
possessed an impenetrable hide.

the source of legend,
all male villagers tried—
but none could kill the lion
and remove the hide.

as punishment to one,
their king had lied—
claiming that the lion had killed—
and called for that hide.

he sent his cousin,
and our hero vied
to slay the lion and
retrieve his hide.

the hero struggled
and he tried
until, finally successful,
he removed that hide.

and now the lion
goes on a nightly ride
through the brilliant stars
in remembrance of him and his hide.

Jupiter

the king of gods – you know him well.
he rules above whilst his brothers rule the sea and hell.
he governs the land with an iron-clad fist –
his worshippers number far too many to list.
with a matronly wife whom doth possess a jealous eye,
he lazily watches for lovers from his throne on high.
for his appetites – some of the largest yet –
they gave his name to the largest planet.
And with moons surrounding its surface so fair,
jupiter never lacks for company there.
named for lovers and friends – even a first wife –
this fifth planet’s moons are the light of its life.

Inuit Moon

with a heart dark
as the blackest night,
he eagerly continues his chase.

through the endless sky
annigan pursues his desire,
hoping to one day win the race.

in love with his sister,
he covets her radiance and
follows her again and again.

until finally needing food
to recharge himself
and anxiously awaiting a new search to begin.

he pursues her bright light
every day of eternity,
never getting ahead.

yet he keeps up
his evil mind game,
hoping to her one day to be wed.

Hydra

a hideous beast with heads numbering nine,
she was put on this earth to plague mankind.

with a visage so gruesome all it took was one stare
to give even the bravest of men a terrible scare.

serving hera loyally throughout her long life,
the creature did cause the grecians much strife.

to battle the monster twas a suicidal task—
the kind of only one hero they could ask.

so the plight of the people hercules set out to end
though many thought twas a fight he would not win.

locked in struggle, the two did fight—
the beast verses our hero’s might.

it seemed his chances held on by a tiny string
when from one severed head two would spring.

just when it seemed he would win not,
hercules found the solution he sot.

with fire in hand and his sword at every turn,
the stumps of the heads he would now burn.

finally left with the beast’s main head,
the hero did bury it, leaving her dead.

and for her service—faithful and true—
she was placed in the night’s inky blue.

across the heavens hydra now does wind
always searching for her next victim on which to dine.

Gemini

two brothers born into the world
as close as they could be –
one the son of a god; the other of a king –
no one could deny their gallantry.

voyaging far from their childhood home,
the two did never part.
though of two bodies,
they shared one soul and heart.

when finally separated by
one brother’s untimely demise,
both were given immortality
and placed in the night skies.

two twinkling stars –
one orange and one white –
the brothers pollux and castor
remain together night after night.

Draco

he winds his way across the sky,
a horrible creature to spy.
the myths and legends surrounding his life
are as numerous as the humans he caused strife.

some say he’s a dragon who fought
a goddess for the power he sought.
she threw him into the stars so bold
before he could unwind his coils of gold.

others say he met with a hero
who went to legend from absolute zero.
guarding hera’s apples still on the trees,
his life was taken by the fair hercules.

yet others about the world do say
this dragon had the god of war to provide his pay.
he guarded a spring of fresh water
and killed a group of men he not ought to.

whichever legend your mind chooses to kiss,
this dragon’s existence is hard to miss.
his body winds its way across the night sky,
its terrible visage apparent to the naked eye.

Cygnus

a friendship so deep, abiding, and true,
this lad’s grief an end never knew.
as his friend’s lifeless body plunged into the sea,
he raced to his side hoping the truth not to be.
he held the lad’s body to his breast
and felt a strange tingling in his chest.
as he cried out in anger at the gods above,
his body was transformed in his grief and love.
he was now white as snow
with feathers where his hair once did grow,
and his neck was long and thin.
his voice distorted to a squawk as his cry did begin.
choosing to shy away from man
in his mistrust of all deities like pan,
the swan spent his days
in a grief-filled haze
until his death brought peace to his plight
and his shape being placed within the stars in the night.

Corona Borealis

a maiden fair from far away,
her life was so filled with woe.
she laid a trap to kill her brother
and win her charming beau.

success attained, she took a vow
to love him throughout forever.
he took her from her childhood home
and commanded she return never.

upon an isle in the sea
the newlyweds did land.
for another woman’s pretty face
he left her alone in the sand.

rescued by a kindly god,
who had been struck by cupid’s arrow,
our maiden did find love again
near the land of the pharaoh.

upon her death, her husband’s grief
no remedy could drown.
to honor her and their love throughout all time,
he did place among the stars her crown.

now we look up in the sky
in never-ending admiration
at ariadne’s corona borealis
as it lights a dark heavenly nation.