Part two of a Greek myth that occurred quite recently...
Apollo and Aphrodite (continued)
Apollo lay with Aphrodite, never tiring of each other,
but eventually they started to discuss the situation.
"What is love, my darling, really?" asked Apollo.
"What a stupid question," answered love's own goddess,
"you don't talk about it, unless you want to destroy it."
"But mustn't lovers talk about their love and their relationship?"
"But that is not what love is. Love can not be talked about,
because you can not understand it. It exists, and that is all."
"My darling, you intrigue me. Then the more important to discuss it
and to have it understood. That is a challenge, then."
"You do not understand it, and you do not talk about it.
You just give it and want nothing in return.
It is the gift of life to manage and administer in such a way
that you can never keep it for yourself but only handle it by giving it away."
"So it is not for keeping but for giving only.
But can you hurt anyone with such a gift?"
"That is the delicacy. Love is total trust.
If you don't trust your love completely and can be completely open
with her about everything, then your love is lacking."
"Did all men and gods you slept with before me trust you as much as I?"
"They did, and I was not unfaithful to a single one of them, for I am love itself."
"What does your husband say about it?"
"Nothing, for he loves me."
"But he never slept with you."
"And thus he might well be the one who loves me most of all."
"Is chaste and virgin love then higher and superior to any carnal love like ours?"
"Yes, for there is no more powerful and potent lover
than the one who never spends his semen."
"But can he be satisfactory?"
"Not temporarily, but in the long run he outlasts all other lovers."
"But you ladies do prefer the proper temporary love
in flesh and blood in bed, or don't you?"
"Never count on that. The trust is all. Give me a lover like my husband,
who has never slept with me and never been unfaithful
and who trusts me no matter with whom I go to bed,
and I call him a better lover than the fairest
and most irresistible of all efficient lovers."
That concluded their discussion, and Apollo felt that he had had enough.
He left her bed and went home to her working husband,
where he laboured in his den, and told him:
"Dear Hephaistus, I am sorry that I stole your wife from you,
but I have learned the lesson how much better you are as a lover than myself."
Hephaistus said: "You must be joking."
"Not at all," Apollo answered,
"I in all my beauty and my splendour and refinement
is a clown and dilettant in love compared with you,
who with your limp and ugliness have never let her down
in your respect and faith. We all have sometimes deprecated
and despised her for her wantonness,
and you, her husband, is the only one who never thought insultingly about her.
That is love and much more love than any lover physically can bestow on her."
And fair Apollo left Hephaistus and his wife in peace
and never tried again to copulate with her,
for he had learned his lesson about love and stuck to it.
Poetry by Christian Lanciai
Read 542 times
Written on 2006-09-30 at 12:19
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230. The *What is love?* challenge - Apollo and Aphrodite, part two
Apollo and Aphrodite (continued)
Apollo lay with Aphrodite, never tiring of each other,
but eventually they started to discuss the situation.
"What is love, my darling, really?" asked Apollo.
"What a stupid question," answered love's own goddess,
"you don't talk about it, unless you want to destroy it."
"But mustn't lovers talk about their love and their relationship?"
"But that is not what love is. Love can not be talked about,
because you can not understand it. It exists, and that is all."
"My darling, you intrigue me. Then the more important to discuss it
and to have it understood. That is a challenge, then."
"You do not understand it, and you do not talk about it.
You just give it and want nothing in return.
It is the gift of life to manage and administer in such a way
that you can never keep it for yourself but only handle it by giving it away."
"So it is not for keeping but for giving only.
But can you hurt anyone with such a gift?"
"That is the delicacy. Love is total trust.
If you don't trust your love completely and can be completely open
with her about everything, then your love is lacking."
"Did all men and gods you slept with before me trust you as much as I?"
"They did, and I was not unfaithful to a single one of them, for I am love itself."
"What does your husband say about it?"
"Nothing, for he loves me."
"But he never slept with you."
"And thus he might well be the one who loves me most of all."
"Is chaste and virgin love then higher and superior to any carnal love like ours?"
"Yes, for there is no more powerful and potent lover
than the one who never spends his semen."
"But can he be satisfactory?"
"Not temporarily, but in the long run he outlasts all other lovers."
"But you ladies do prefer the proper temporary love
in flesh and blood in bed, or don't you?"
"Never count on that. The trust is all. Give me a lover like my husband,
who has never slept with me and never been unfaithful
and who trusts me no matter with whom I go to bed,
and I call him a better lover than the fairest
and most irresistible of all efficient lovers."
That concluded their discussion, and Apollo felt that he had had enough.
He left her bed and went home to her working husband,
where he laboured in his den, and told him:
"Dear Hephaistus, I am sorry that I stole your wife from you,
but I have learned the lesson how much better you are as a lover than myself."
Hephaistus said: "You must be joking."
"Not at all," Apollo answered,
"I in all my beauty and my splendour and refinement
is a clown and dilettant in love compared with you,
who with your limp and ugliness have never let her down
in your respect and faith. We all have sometimes deprecated
and despised her for her wantonness,
and you, her husband, is the only one who never thought insultingly about her.
That is love and much more love than any lover physically can bestow on her."
And fair Apollo left Hephaistus and his wife in peace
and never tried again to copulate with her,
for he had learned his lesson about love and stuck to it.
Poetry by Christian Lanciai
Read 542 times
Written on 2006-09-30 at 12:19
Save as a bookmark (requires login) Write a comment (requires login) Send as email (requires login) Print text
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