You long-legged before me
Scrawling my nightmares
Across a page
Before it was a man
With no pen
And no form
Now it’s you before me
Long-legged and waiting
For me to speak
“I’m fine,” I say
“Ground yourself,”
She tells me
Knowing I’m not here
But grounding
Grinds down every
Everything
That piercing, bloody joy
That can only come from
Floating
Erato, Muse of Lyrical Poetry - Charles Meynier
“Come now, Erato, stand by my side, and say next how Jason brought back the fleece to Iolcus aided by the love of Medea. For thou sharest the power of Cypris, and by thy love-cares dost charm unwedded maidens; wherefore to thee too is attached a name that tells of love.”
ReplyDelete--tr. R. C. Seaton
In the 3rd century BCE Apollonius Rhodius was apparently the 1st to suggest that Erato (“lovely, “desired”), the muse of of lyric poetry, erotic poetry, mimic imitation, hymns, and all writings dealing with love and marriage, derived her name from the same root as the god of love Eros (“desire”), the son of Chaos (according to Hesiodus, though other accounts credited his parentage to Aphrodite and Zeus or another paramour). In the 17th century Simon Vouet, the painter who introduced Italian Baroque into France, depicted her with Eros (holding a torch) while she held a golden arrow and turtle doves ate seeds at her feet. Like the other 8 Mousai (Muses) she was the daughter of Zeus and the titaness Mnemosyne (memory), who coupled for 9 days in a row; each of these 9 days resulted in the conception of one of the Muses, regarded as being responsible for all creative and intellectual thought.