The Dance of Naiades - 1. Poem

The wings of night enfold the land,
In velvet drapes of darkness,
Morpheus alights with a gentle hand,
And sleep invades the forest

Silver gleams the trees of spring,
Reaching for the radiant moon,
Songbirds dream as crickets sing,
Deep into nocturnal noon

Come hither to the water's edge,
Where the reeds choke the shallows,
And thither are the clumps of sedge,
Where dart the argent minnows

Halcyons guard their earthen nests,
Arrows wrought of darkest blue,
Willows sigh where the otter rests,
Over lurking trouts of golden hue

The sky glimmers with stellar tears,
Longing for the vanished sun,
The soft wind whispers in thy ears,
The dance of naiades has begun

Surging from the dark nadir,
Naiades burst into the moonlight,
Singing songs for gods to hear,
Denizens of the enchanted night

Swirling hair of sable ribbons,
Entangle human mind and heart,
Graceful air of siren scions,
Far surpass all works of art

A sight to lift the immortal soul,
The naiades rise to dance,
An unlikely gift in river shoals,
To hold my heart entranced

Fairies frolic in moonlight bright,
Weaving spells of mindless rapture,
Playful antics in this elfin night,
Stir my heart in unworldly pleasure

Pale white fires of lily flowers,
Burn above the placid lake,
Sylvan choirs in leafy bowers,
Sing beneath the nighthawk's wake

Cruel dawn is drawing near,
The dance halts at the wild fowl's crow,
And lightning fast, they disappear,
Beneath the crystal depths below

For years that follow I await,
The naiades' return to yonder stream,
For no mortal joy can now sate,
A nympholept's now futile dream

AN:

Still a bit rough, I admit, now that I've seen it again. I might polish this some more in the future. This is one of the earliest poems I've written. Written, I think, in my senior year in High School. This is about a man catching a glimpse of the dance of naiades (river nymphs, female spirits of the natural world - includes the dryades, pleiades, oceanides, nereides, etc. famous nymphs include Echo, Lorelei, Daphne, and others) and never being the same again. In greek mythology, a mortal who has seen nymphs' dances goes insane and spends his remaining lifetime trying to witness a dance again. There is even a term for it: Nympholepsy.

If you're curious, the male counterparts of the nymphs are the satyrs. Most commonly portrayed as having goat horns and feet. Followers of the forest god Pan (also called Faunus/Sylvanus in Roman mythology), they embody bestiality and masculine playfulness and brashness as contrasted to the nymphs grace and otherworldly beauty. The unexplainable fear that sometimes comes upon a lone traveller who passes in the woods at night is the origin of the term 'Panic', as it is said to be caused by the music from panpipes played by satyrs. :P LOL. Greek mythology is sooo fascinating. ^^

This was inspired (but is not about) by my first encounter with a painting by John William Waterhouse entitled 'Hylas and the Nymphs' (1896). I instantly fell in love with it, even though, back then, I didn't even had an idea who Hylas was. Hylas, as it turned out, was Hercules' most famous male lover in greek mythology. He disappeared during a stopover in the Argonauts' voyage (of which he and Hercules had been a part of). He had went out to fetch water from a sacred spring but never came back. It was assumed that he was either kidnapped or drowned by the Naiades. Hercules nearly went mad looking for him. To appease his grief and anger, nearby villagers vowed to search for Hylas themselves while Hercules continued on with the rest of the heroes in their ship, the Argos. To this day (I forgot the name of the place), the town holds a holiday in which they spend the day shouting Hylas' name all over the woods. It may seem surprising, but yes, Hercules was bisexual. Hylas was only one of his many homosexual relationships. He is actually considered by some to be the patron deity of male homosexuality, LOL.