The First And Last

I loved you first. I saw the way,

the lacy willows bent before your sway.

Oh, nimble dryad, how daintily you danced

Amidst crepe myrtle, your beauty enhanced

By their intoxicating scent. Sweet Eurydice,

From that moment there was no other love for me.

Such yearning in the gentleness of our first kiss,

Aphrodite herself could only dream such bliss!

All the satyrs, nymphs and dryads raised glasses to our love,

With mirthful songs and merriment to wake the Gods above.

Those promises we made beneath our bridal bower,

We pledged anew, in throes of passion’s moonlit hour.

I loved to hear you and your sisters’ laughter fill the air,

To watch you whirl and pirouette and frolic without care.

So free, your joyful spirit was a wonder to behold,

The sunbeams soft caress upon your hair like gleaming gold.

Eurydice, your beauty was as tender as your heart,

What cruelty of fate could tear such loving souls apart?

The way your eyes rolled wildly as you crumpled to the ground,

I never knew myself to make such pitiful a sound!

I held you in my arms, my dear, the snake slithered away,

And everything I dreamed for us was stolen on that day.

Your sisters gathered round us both, their tears fell down like dew,

And overhead the birds and willows all were weeping too.

For days I walked in darkness, found no comfort anywhere,

Your loss too overwhelming, no end to my despair.

In vain I roared and raged at all the Gods to end my life,

What point was there to living if it weren’t beside my wife?

Into the icy waters of the river Styx I waded,

Until Charon took pity and for silver was persuaded.

To ferry my poor soul down to the Underworld below,

To plead with mighty Hades his good favor to bestow.

At first his face was stony, unmoved by my sad plight,

Persephone took up my cause and made him see the light.

“Remember, my beloved, how you grieve when we’re apart?

Give this wretched man a chance, then, to mend his broken heart.”

Never before had any soul escaped his bleak domain,

Yet Hades features softened as he perceived my pain.

“Leave here at once, brave Orpheus, before I change my mind,

And do not dare to turn around or even glance behind!

If to the waiting ferryman your feet can lead you true,

Eurydice will live again, and she will follow you.”

My sweetest one, I tried, I tried! To make it through that chasm,

Though the sound of echoed footsteps sent my heart into a spasm.

As I headed through dark passageways, I stumbled on the path,

For somewhere close behind me, I heard your gentle laugh!

And knowing that my only love was close enough to hear,

It was too much, I turned, I turned! For glimpse of you, my dear.

And for the briefest moment, your smiling face I saw,

Then a blackness, from which I prayed I would awake no more.

I found myself beneath the weeping willows at your grave,

My darling gone forever, no other chance to save.

I loved you at first sight, you see, so I was doomed to fail,

That final look the ending to our woe begotten tale.