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Melpomene
Enter the bent blossoms of summertime,
A nimble ballerina on their stalks,
They bow to swirling winds and flying locks,
A race to find courage in lemon thyme.
A crystalline waltz whirls through the meadow.
The sylphs' flowing gowns ease tepidity,
Resting in the grass content to see
The azure backdrop of the cloud's still show.
Exeunt breeze to welcome blustering gusts
Who dance with willows and laughter on wings
Of soaring sparrows and dandelion fluff.
The extras: bumblebees spread pollen dust
On flowers and petticoats and they sing
Until the fall; the earthen ground is rough.
And thus act two: dried leaves and hills of ants,
A soiled dress, clutching hands of branches snapped,
Ragged breath and flowing maple strength sapped
The beasts bear witness and the dark bird chants.
With muddy malice masked by underbrush
The gnomes march; percussionists, toppling trees,
howl through crumbling empires. The raptor sees
From battlements high above sorrow's rush.
The thicket with long arms holds their captive
Prone and tears mix with dust; murky water
Brings life to shoots of hops. Encircling vines
Stifle silent screams and the soul they give
To moss and roots. Now Hespera's daughter,
The last before the frost of nature's signs.
Where fires freeze, ice burns the snow white curtain
And ignites the third with slithering smoke,
Flickering tongues and coal black eyes that choke
Hope from fennel and give birth to certain
Doom. Over the shimmering wasteland crawl
The salamanders, twisted with rage and
Blind confusion under Nemesis' hand,
They seek redemption through flames and snowfall
And with crackling shadows, the air is thick.
As charred dreams scatter the blistered glacier
The serpents writhe beneath glowing embers;
They strike with fury and their poison quick
And cold smolders through perverted nature.
Numbness invades to chase the torched members.
Past the Phlegethon lies the fourth where rain
Soaked illusions wash through newborn gardens
To meet the Cocyus.. Clarity hardens
With the tide and upon the Styx all pain
Is gone; at the fork the Lethe chosen
And The Acheron ignored. Listless pools
Of emptiness reflect the waiting ghouls
As they ebb from dying rue. The frozen
Chaos melts and nymphs lead the way to dark
Waters; the sun fades into the ocean.
It is dusk and the arrival of spring
Marks the end and beneath the flood an ark,
Awaiting the players, grinds to motion.
Backstage for actors, the vessel will bring.
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