Prometheus

1.


Yours was a spirit no blind force could chain,
no torments could efface;
your enlightened soul a flame
no earthly power could constrain,
though they behaved like schoolyard bullies
fuelled by petty spite,
though they would have divine fire doused
and turn each day to night…
Yours was the gaze compassion would ordain
to shape the common clay,
and look upon its human countenance
with wisdom, not disdain…

This they commemorated on Elbrus
at dawn's rekindled blaze;
this the centaur Cheiron honoured
when he chose to take your place
in Hades, for the love of light,
for luminous Selene's sake…


2.


Ah! What cosmic energies
are latent in your form and face!
What boundless gifts are in your gaze,
what music in your hands!

You are the aeons' paragon,
endowed with charismatic grace,
the union between fate and fire,
Prometheus's heir...


3.


Icon of Desire


What might the future bring
to our perception of Prometheus?
That he has shed Earth's gravity 
and soars to incandescent stars
on missions to young colonies
created on Europa, Mars...

That his soul embodies
all divine notes of the human dance,
the consciousness inspiring
science, generating works of art,
illumined by clairvoyance,
fire of sacrifice, his cosmic heart...

Prometheus is destined for the galaxy,
and always was -
a Titan for the light years of mythology -
a cosmonaut...