Hymenaios, or the Marriage of the God of Marriage - 10. Part X. A Double Wedding

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Part X. A Double Wedding

Twilight of the nuptial day slowly

Was coming to its rich inheritance:

From eastern sky crept the edges of night,

While the boldness of the west continued

To send the brilliant orange and yellow rays

Of a proud celestial father on his

Son’s most glorious of wedding parties.

On the heavenly heights of Olympus,

Hymenaios had a rise in status

As Zeus, Hera and Aphrodite draped

The offspring of their sun-chariot kin

With the admiring pleasure of watching

His adventures serving for the gods

Eros and Artemis with pluck and love.

The congress of immortals had gathered

‘Round the visionary well of Lord Zeus

And cheered on the defeat of human greed

By the force of mortal devotion, and

The Olympians a body then

Granted the bright demi-god and his bride

Deathless form to join them when Death would call.

So it was with immeasurable pride

Helios pulled his chariot across

The high arc above the Acropolis

Where families would congregate to witness

Beautiful children unite in wedlock.

Earlier, while He could still watch, one group

Decorated the altars of Eros

With the sweetest boughs of myrtle strong, where

Every manly blossom a poet could

Dedicate to the synchronized beauty

Of boys and the bold wisdoms which bless

Love-matches between the masculine tribes.

Meleager’s keepsake for Myiscus

Interwove pale roses with narcissus,

Young vines of grape blooms, sweet-scented iris,

Fragrant marjoram amid maiden-hued

Crocus and sorrow-tainted hyacinth.

Among these bright blossoms of hope were set

Dark-leaved sprigs of laurel, ivy clusters,

Boughs of walnut, and sprinklings of wild thyme;

And because love among men is sometimes

Presented with a rougher road to haul,

An occasional dark-eyed violet

Rounded out the love garland to remind

A tear or two is oft shed in pursuit

Of a lovely lad whose heart is too hard.

In stirring fruitful contrast, the nursemaid

And doting mother of Kathros had plait

Some dear maternal drops of sentiment

Into the swag they wove as offering

To the earthy and fecund side of love.

For Terrestrial Aphrodite’s shrine

Upon the heights of the temple complex,

They strung a garland of terebinth boughs

With globes of purple, tight-leaved artichoke,

Aromatic sprays of demantoid pine

With slick stalks of razor-edged-but-sweet rush.

Upon this foundation, pink-scented sprigs

Of infant apples upon their branches,

First fruit of sandstone-hued pomegranate

And spear-like, tapering twigs of wild pear

Were set on cushioning dollies of wheat

Golden and ripe, promising nutrition.

Interspersed with these were the proud blossoms

Of redolent cooking from the chefs:

Herbs dry and rich from the fields of parsley,

Sacred lovage with its scent of celery,

And the undoubtedly bawdy hing[1]

From its yellow sprays of spicy spikenard.[2]

The length of this great and fruitful garland

They hung around the altar of She who

Watches over earthly reproduction;

The nursemaid and Kathros’ mother also

Shedding a few more tears as they did so.

But now the Sun God from his western place

Could begin to see the wedding procession.

It slowly went its way up the white steps

To the summit of the Acropolis –

The smoked, red-veined altar ‘fore the temple

Of high-handed but loving Artemis.

In symbol of his absent, godly father,

Hymenaios bore three-foot tapers,

Both lit, and meant to reflect the Sun’s light

On the Earth, even after darkness falls.

In token too, one torch represented

His deeply abiding love of Kathros

And the other as its equal among

The love of Meleager and Myiscus,

For equal, all equitable love is.

Behind the saffron-tunic'd torchbearer,

The wedding party slowly followed.

Up, ever up to the Goddess’ steps,

They trod their way as stars came out above.

Myiscus was arrayed just like his friend,

Only his arms were laden with four wreaths,

Each bandied with verdant needles of pine –

To show the power of eternal love –

And rosebuds of yellow to signify

The budding pleasure of all earthly life.

Then behind the young men out in the lead

Came Meleager and Kathros – both in white,

While over the head of the lovely bride,

A diaphanous veil of flame colors

Was embroidered round-a-bout with living

Sprays of blooming lilies of the valley.

Next to come after the four espoused,

As many sets of parents beamed with pride.

At last mounted the white temple steps

To stand before the holy altar of

Artemis with its fragrant incense fire;

Much of the city had already come

And stood in awe to witness the nuptials.

Hymen placed his now brightly glowing lights

In slots besides the waiting high priestess.

A hush fell upon everyone, even

The tenant birds of the Acropolis.

At the signal, Hymen lifted her veil

And crowned Kathros with one of the pure wreaths.

Myiscus did the same with his beaming

Meleager, poet he’d love for life.

Once complied, their partners mirrored actions

And placed gentle crowns on their belovèds.

Both couples then joined hands for the priestess,

Who soon bound a flower garland around

The two sets of sacredly linked fingers.

“Do you,” asked the pleased officiator,

“Hymen and Kathros; Meleager and

Myiscus here vow to defend in love

The person with whom you will share your life?”

“I do,” rang out in affirming quartet.

“Do you also,” continued the priestess,

“Avow to live in honor as equals,

Never stating your match better than that

Of your brother’s? Knowing sacred is love

Arranged for each of us in heaven.”

“I will,” was the tender, life-sustaining

Pledge for all present – and all of mankind –

To hear now, and for every age to come.

“Then,” said the priestess, “Kiss to trow your faith.”

Myiscus and Meleager did so,

Starting their married life as lovingly

As each boy had pursued their long courtship.

Smiling, Hymen slapping his best friend’s back,

The bright young man then raised his hand to touch

The divinely rosy cheek of Kathros,

Drawing them by slow degrees together.

They kissed, and what heart that day didn’t melt?

The poet and his spouse rejoined hands, and

Myiscus, so taken with life’s great joy,

Began to mutter a loud tribute:

“Hymen – dear, Hymen. Come, O Hymena,”

But yet, what started as a single phrase

Others in the crowd took up as refrain;

Soon the cheer rose to fill the sky with light

And the grinning boy once more touched his wife

By her sweet flower-laced hand to draw her

Into another, longer-lasting kiss.

 

For then the folks did shout, rejoice and learn to say:

“Hymen, come. Hymenaios, O Hymenae!”

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