The Used Lover Blues (3)

A Pathenon of Seduction

As a naïve teenager
a youth of pure innocence
I was ruthlessly seduced
by a mysterious Grecian lover
who’s pagan charms
were impossible to resist
Was it the insatiable desire
of a reckless Aphrodite
that so graciously
nearly killed me
with her all consuming divinity?
Or was it the passive aggression
of Athena that turned
a carefree choir boy
into a reprobate man?
I truly don’t know
. . . but for just one
heart pounding millennium
she touched me deeply
with her nefarious wisdom . . .

“Hard up against the impetuous
of an Olympian Goddess, there will
be no winning for any mere human.
So take what is given while you can,
and do your best to make Eros jealous!”

Either way . . .
it was Aphrodite by night
the passionate lover
and Athena by day
the consummate warrior
with no respite in sight
Today you might
call her a cougar
for being a Greek Goddess
she was so much older
My hapless plight . . .
this clueless toy boy
on the acropolis of madness
broken down to his moving parts
for her ceaseless pleasure
That spell I was under
miraculously transformed me
from a fumbling teenager
into an emboldened lover
in the white hot rush
of her Mount Olympus fever

Carnal the bristle
Mortal the brush
A temporal temple
To be a true mirror
if only just a glimmer
of a reality far higher
after the stoic trauma
of a loveless affair
with the Goddess Athena
the born again virgin
of bronze age splendour
and my near ruination

A restored reflection
Forgiven … I have taken
Forsaken … I have given
the very shirt
from off my back
In that I am no alien
So why on planet earth
the Martian attack
from Athena’s
house-trained Titan?

Amid the fray
of a Spartan conflagration
a broken collection tray
returns half empty
as the Exclusive Congregation
of The Self-Saucing Pudding
reaches out for more gravy
Do I have it in me
to keep on knocking
at heaven’s door
as my reality
of bitter street poverty
clashes violently
with Zeus’s theology
of sweet prosperity?

Things a bit less hostile
here in outer space
taken away by Doctor Who
the Time Lord of Gallifrey
No longer
caught in the crush
of a paradise rush
with me … the satiated
and sedated malingerer
of least resistance
now a certified time traveller
( not a SpaceX tourist )
even outmanoeuvring
that devilish Master
All whilst steering the Tardis
with style and grace
despite being chased
by the Banshee of Prohibition
trying to erase
the slightest trace
of a Morpheus thrill
sweet to the taste
Life is a choice . . .
the blue or red pill?

Now perched upon
a pedestal of virtue
on full public view
Athena’s marble statue
She who do
that taboo voodoo
unto the margins of destruction
mumbling the ancient hoodoo
of her superfluous wisdom
over the lifeless corpse
of yet another
marginalised victim
That succubus
who must win at all cost
circling over a vacuum
of dark calamity
as she attacks and subtracts
the slightest trace
of true freedom
Talkin’ about
your personal liberty
The Garnishee of Faux Morality
telling you
what you can and can’t do
with your heart
mind
and body
as her keyboard
keeps on tapping
( We even need a law against
stupidity … apparently! )

Upon Chaos’s
well beaten anvil
a hammer is madly swinging
On life’s uncertain path
every day a fresh choice
between life and death
Beware the Zealot
who with every breath
would take away
your right to be wrong
. . . to even make a mistake
as you become
the obedient servant
a subservient robot
set only on survival
Personal responsibility
is the acid test
for an earthbound mortal
running the race
With ever more to conquer
came the utterance of a prayer
seeking a celestial answer. . .

“Perseverance in Christ will
break the spell you are under,
so choose in your heart to make
Jesus your personal Saviour.
Repentance will surely follow
as the Spirit of Love touches
even the very hollow with the
fullness of Heaven’s forgiveness.”

Yet …
try as I might
to forget
that glimmer from hell
Zeus’s warlike daughter
I’ll forever remember
her churning out
that toxic bitter butter

“What’ll you do when you get lonely,
and nobody is waiting by your side?”

The one time
love child of the wild
having once dared
to ride Pegasus the untamed
by the seat of her pants
( The Muses left entranced
and poetically enhanced! )
Athena now sadly
a cheer leader for the mild
riding that highway of mediocrity
a mile wide
From the armchair
of cosy morality
you can hear the jury
choosing a side
A scent lingering
that stench
of stale state religion
infested with the yeast
of the predatory priest
“Just smells like obscenely
mean spirit to me … ”
sighs wise Ulysses whimsically
“That fragrance
stronger than Coco Cainé
or Black Opium Taboo
. . . It really suits you!”
looking quizzically
to the author of conceit
that warlike orphan of defeat
snatched from the jaws of deceit

There was never
any doubting
the unquenchable fire
of Queen Aphrodite
but was Athena to me
ever more
than a cold marble statute
in the guise of Keira Knightley?
Beyond the battle
without the struggle
that fight for survival
do I even exist?
Do I have the persistence
to keep on knocking
at heaven’s door?
Or am I just another
broken Billy Idol
rebellious to the core
in need of a soul revival
rebel yelling for more
after a life most … Odysseus?!

( . . . to be continued 😎)

~ by David B Redpath © 2022

“What doesn’t kill you, makes
you stronger. Unless, of course,
it leaves you weaker.”

~ The Risky Nietzsche Ninja 😎

Title Artwork;
‘Protected by Athena from the Ravages of Time’
~ by John Singer Sargent

‘Athena’ (refurbished)
~ by Gustav Klimt

‘Earthly Love and Heavenly Honesty’
~ by Ari Schaeffer

‘Just an Earthbound Misfit’
~ by David B. Redpath 😎 © 2022

82 thoughts on “The Used Lover Blues (3)”

  2. Hail, oh marble roarer, may my paean reach your ears, who fought the brave battle with Aphrodite and schooled Athena. Hail Redpath, throughout all of prosperous Hellas. (I heard that this is how the Ancient Greeks said hello)

    Your poem was great. I hope that there’s a part 4.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. An epic thank you, Tanmay.
      I seem to recall we both have a
      poetic thing for marble statues 🤔
      As Helios heads off to bed 🌞
      I’ll be up furiously writing part 4
      of my ill fated iliad 🌊⛵ 😎👍

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. Hehe! Actually that statue was triggered by this poem. It made me remember things from a few years ago, though you might not recall… A bad episode with Inanna.

        I hope that you safely reach the embrace of your Penelope at the end of the war.

        Liked by 1 person

  7. I love the historical, mythical, musical, and pop culture references expertly woven throughout your beautiful poem. Wow! This is top shelf poetry, David. So masterfully crafted. I love the flow of one stanza to the next.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Very much appreciated, Kristian.
      Thanks for reading my poem,
      cobbled together in the Twilight
      Zone 😎

      “Art is not a mirror held up to reality,
      but a hammer with which to shape it.”
      ~ Bertolt Brecht

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

    1. Thanks for that?
      Yes … guilty of being a victim
      of my older brother’s photography
      … but then, I was only thirteen
      and just about to have my first
      growth spurt when Athena come
      along and made it hurt 😎

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      2. You’ve got me blushing, Mishelle 😊
        A stick!? 🤔 Yes, I could’ve used
        one of those when my older sister’s
        frisky friends came a-knocking🚪
        Now why didn’t I think of that? 🤔

        Liked by 2 people

    1. Just about anything can become
      humorous when given enough
      distance, and now that the statute
      of limitations has kicked in
      regarding the worst of Athena’s sin.
      At least she left me with lashings
      of her tzatziki wisdom 🤔
      Athena was one mean moussaka! 😎

      Like

      Reply
  15. Pingback: The Used Lover Blues (3) – LIFESTYLE

    1. A titanic thank you, John.
      Yes, Athena tempted me with a
      handful of Ferrero Rochers, as
      Mount Olympus is where they
      apparently come from. So …
      I guess every cloud does have a
      silver lining, just like a Ferrero
      Rocher’s golden wrapping 🤔

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  17. Most amazing poem,dear Redpath!! Ancient Greek culture and Roman culture have many mythological story and give us beautiful inspirations to write and think.love your poem dear!!🌺🙏🌺

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      1. A grateful soldier of titanic misfortune…?What are you saying so. No my dear!! You are a great poet in the world of poetry.💕👌💕If you publish a book of your poems,it is sure,they will be most famous, dear Redpath!!🥰✌️🥰👍🥰

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Greatly appreciated, Aruna ❤️🌹
        To be honest, I’ve had a most
        fortunate life, blessed to the
        fullest, but I must keep up the
        pretence of a suffering artist 😎

        Like

    1. A berserkergang of gratefulness
      to you, Resa, from a lone survivor
      of Sparta 🙏🌹
      It was Pythia, the Oracle of Delphi,
      who taught me everything I know🤔
      Athena was just some Grecian
      princess of Olympic entitlement 😎

      Like

      Reply

  21. One thing I can say about straying
    into a pantheon of paganism is it
    leaves the imagination in need of
    a good spring cleaning 🙉 🙈 🙊
    Thanks for attending my overdue
    therapy session, Buckeye 😎👍

    Like

    Reply

  22. Excellent poem, David. 👍🏻
    One I can really get into. 😎
    It appears you and I must have had similar childhoods.
    Although the times were reversed.
    I encountered Aphrodite during the day and Athena at night.
    And I’ve been a Greek mythology buff ever since.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      2. With Europa as a witness of Zeus’s
        character, no way. In the misquoted
        immortal words of Jerry Lee Lewis
        . . . “Goodness, gracious, great bolts
        of fire 🔥⚡🔥”
        As Boris Johnson can attest, you
        don’t want to upset Europa, or you’ll
        pay a heavy price💰

        Liked by 1 person

  25. Wow, I am exhausted after reading this, what a way to make your way to man hood! You really are something else David your writing is not only brilliant but it is an education within itself! You were a beautiful young teenager and still look great, I might add. Amazing writing David!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Much gratitude for hanging on
      tight throughout the duration
      of my poem, Joni 🙏 🌹😎 💖
      ( … But did you consider the
      possibility that it was all fiction
      and that the images were photo
      photoshopped? 🤔 I could well
      be a most hideous Gorgan 😱).
      As a gesture of thanks, as I know
      you love a bit of romance, here’s a
      piece I wrote for my lovely Linda;

      I couldn’t say “No”
      after finding a lover
      who never did smoke
      that marijuana
      on the water
      Who casts no shadow
      when hiding
      in the dark
      Only the glow
      of radiation
      from her nuclear fusion
      The chain reaction
      to a celestial spark
      Who has no reflection
      when standing
      in front of a mirror
      only the glimmer
      from another dimension
      Therefore
      she spends less time
      preening herself
      than the black cat
      that sits on my lap
      I couldn’t say “No”
      to the attraction
      of a complete
      polar opposite
      Not after recovering
      from the concussion
      of her ever
      loving transfusion

      ~ David B. Redpath 😎

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. That is beautiful David. I am sure those poems mean a lot to her. I knew you were a romantic man from your work. I did not think you had photoshop The entire pieces from other work, I thought they were really amazing though. I enjoyed the work you shared. Thanks for sharing with us. Your writing blows me away. ❤️🦋❤️🙏

        Liked by 1 person

      2. I greatly appreciate your most
        encouraging feedback 🙏 🌹 ❤️
        (I was just leaving room for the
        possibility of some plausible
        deniability, or even a touch of
        mystery, Joni. I wouldn’t know
        what to do with a photoshop if
        it bit me 😎)

        Like

  26. Pingback: The Used Lover Blues (3) - A Little TOO Picture Imperfect

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