** HERO AND LEANDER <br /> <br /> <br />The Dardanelles is a narrow strait which links, - <br />The strait of Bosporus with the Aegean Sea; <br />And also separates the European from the Asian <br />side of Turkey! <br />In the ancient days this strait was better known <br />as Hellespont, <br />With its narrowest stretch between Sestos and <br />Abydos! <br />Hero, the beautiful virgin priestess of Aphrodite*, - <br />Lived in Sestos on the European side! <br />Leander a fiery youth from Abydos, lived on <br />the opposite side of Sestos! <br />Leander saw Hero at a religious festival at Sestos, <br />And it was love at first sight we are assured! <br />Leander wooed Hero with many soft words of <br />entreaty; <br />How could Aphrodite the Goddess of Love and <br />Beauty, - <br />Accept a virgin’s worship in the logic of all <br />things? <br />For it never did fit in to the scheme of things! <br />Hero finally consented and returned Leander’s <br />love! <br />Every night she lit a lamp on Sesto’s tower above! <br />To guide Leander as he swam the Hellespont - <br />And to come safely to her waiting shores! <br />One day a violent storm broke out at sea, - <br />Making Leander to drift far out at sea! <br />The strong winds had extinguished Hero’s <br />tower light, <br />What fate ordains can hardly be denied! <br />Hero jumped from the tower overcome with <br />grief, <br />And at the bottom of the Hellespont they both <br />peacefully sleep! <br /> -Raj Nandy <br /> 18 Apr 09 <br /> New Delhi <br />(Composed this poem-based on an old Greek myth I <br /> came across reading Byzantine History! *Greek Aphrodite - <br /> is the Roman Venus, – the goddess of love.)<br /><br />RAJ NANDY<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/hero-and-leander-3/
