New day, new haiku!
I'm covering the the Moirai aka the Fates now! They were known to be the daughters of Zeus and Themis predominantly, but I have heard their parentage vary: from Chaos to Nyx to even Gaia. One of the best parts about myths is that it's so malleable. They were in charge of the fates of mortals, from who were born to who died and each have their own unique tasks as well. Clotho was the spinner - she spun the threads of life and death to which this haiku talks about. Imagine how that sort of power of life and death in your very hands. It's truly something that is quite amazing to think about as well as terrifying.

Anyway, thank you all for growing followers, I'm forever humbled and grateful for the support 🙏🌹💜
Here's the link for the growing collection:
https://hellopoetry.com/collection/132853/the-women-of-myth/
Be back tomorrow with another one!
Please take care of yourselves and stay safe!
Much love,
Lyn 💜

New day, new haiku!
Yes, the Women of Myth series is ready to be continued! ^.^
Hard to believe that this is my 980th poem! I've extended the list so a lot to come now.
This haiku is about Queen Dido [aka Elissa], the legendary founding queen of Carthage, known as Tunisia today which is located in Africa, on the north-western coast.  I believe her name means 'wanderer' which suits her perfectly, to be honest.

Dido's story is one that is inspirational as well as tragic. Before she became the Queen of Carthage, she was a Princess of Tyre, a city in today's Lebanon.
After her father, King Mattan passed away [In Virgil's Aeneid, the King is named Belus], he wanted his children, Dido and Pygmalion to co-rule the Kingdom. At the time, Dido was married to Sychaeus / Acerbas, High Priest [ as well as and her paternal uncle] who amassed great wealth. The moment Mattan died, Pygmalion seized power and killed the high priest to gain his wealth and riches but it was not to be as Acerbas hid his wealth which Dido found and with it, as well as a handful of supporters, she fled Tyre, sailing the Mediterranean until they ended up in the north-western coast of Africa.

Safe from her brother's wrath, she came to meet the ruler of the land, Iarbas, and sold her land that can be covered by a bull's skin. Dido was as shrewd as she was beautiful. She cleverly cut the bull's skin into strips and used to enclose land for herself and her people, to Iarbas' shock and chagrin but clearly, he was impressed and intrigued. He honoured his word and the kingdom of Carthage was founded. The king watched her from afar, noting that under her rule, the kingdom thrived and he wanted her for himself.

But Dido made a vow to herself that she will take no other man as her husband. Iarbas was not swayed. He wanted her so much that reportedly, he threatened war. Feeling trapped and wanting to keep her word, Dido took her own life. Some say by sheathing a blade into herself on the funeral pyre another, by throwing herself into the pyre itself.

In Virgil's legendary poem, Aeneid, Dido fell head over heels for the Trojan Hero, Aeneas but still, her husband had a firm place in her heart. She took her own life when he was called away, following his duty to the gods.
But to be honest, I rather prefer the original story over Virgil's. For it gives this beautifully clever and tragic queen a more well-rounded view. Though Virgil's narrative is similar and further exaggerates her tragic end through Aeneas rejecting her which majorly contributed to her end.

Dido is a fascinating character to me. She deserves every respect, this wonderful mortal queen. 🌹
Anyway, thank you all for growing followers, I'm forever humbled and grateful for the support 🙏🌹💜
Here's the link for the growing collection:
https://hellopoetry.com/collection/132853/the-women-of-myth/
Be back tomorrow with another one!
Please take care of yourselves and stay safe!
Much love,
Lyn 💜

New day, new haiku!
Slowly getting there today. Thank you to all who sent me kind comments, I really appreciate it! Truly, they are lights that make the days better by far.
Free verses are still in the works too.

This haiku is for Pandia, a minor goddess of sorts. Said to be the daughter of Selene and Zeus. In some myths, Pandia is a epithet for Selene herself. Again, theres not much on her at all but still. Even the most minor of goddesses should get some love, right?

Anyway, thank you all for growing followers, I'm forever humbled and grateful for the support 🙏🌹💜
Here's the link for the growing collection:
https://hellopoetry.com/collection/132853/the-women-of-myth/
Be back tomorrow with another one!
Please take care of yoursels and stay safe! RIP to Chadwick again 💔
Much love,
Lyn 💜

New day, new haiku!
Still not feeling so great but I want to keep writing. I apologise for the inactivity.
I'm working on some free verses too. I'll let you all know when it's about to drop.
This haiku is for Thalassa, the primordial goddess of the seas.
She gave birth to the Telkhines, the four sea gods. They were also said to be warlocks and blacksmiths as well. Thalia was also the mother of the sea-nymph, Halia. This goddess was said to personify the very Mediterranean Sea and was a figure in Aesop's stories.

Being that her 'body is the sea', this poem is a reference to motherhood as well. For in her womb, various types of life, known and unknown.
And we as human begins defile her body with *******...
So sad...

Anyway, thank you all for growing followers, I'm forever humbled and grateful for the support 🙏🌹💜
Here's the link for the growing collection:
https://hellopoetry.com/collection/132853/the-women-of-myth/
Be back tomorrow with another one!
Please take care of yoursels and stay safe!
Much love,
Lyn 💜

New day, new haiku!
Yesterday was such a terrible day... Even now, I feel so disoriented but I wont let it stop me from writing.

This haiku is for the nymph, Kalypso. She predominantly known for her role in the Odyssey. When the hero Odysseus was shipwrecked on her caverns and caves, she kept him there for many years (seven, I believe) for she was in love with him, even promising him youth and immortality but he was not swayed.

All he wanted was to go home. Hence what this haiku references, her pain and unrequited love for him. Even though the gods commanded she release him, she was loathed to do so but complied.
Alongside some tragic elements, theres an air of possessiveness around her as well.

A mix of various emotions but in a way, it makes her all the more human to me.
Anyway, thank you all for growing followers, I'm forever humbled and grateful for the support 🙏🌹💜
Here's the link for the growing collection:
https://hellopoetry.com/collection/132853/the-women-of-myth/
Be back tomorrow with another one!
Please take care of yoursels and stay safe!
Much love,
Lyn 💜

New day, new haiku!
This haiku is for Tykhe, goddess of fortune and luck.
Her symbols were a cornucopia and a rudder. Chance and luck poured from her like a tide and she was well in control of it.

There are many variants of who her parents are, some myths say Zeus, others say Oceanus and Tethys. She was also linked to the Moirai, the goddesses of fate who will soon make their appearance soon.
The last line is a link to one of my favourite Latin quotes 'Fortis Fortuna Adiuvat', Fortune favours the bold! And it fits as this proverb is linked to Tykhe's Roman equivalent, Fortuna.

Anyway, thank you all for growing followers, I'm forever humbled and grateful for the support 🙏🌹💜
Here's the link for the growing collection:
https://hellopoetry.com/collection/132853/the-women-of-myth/
Be back tomorrow with another one!
Please take care of yourselves and stay safe!
Much love,
Lyn 💜

New day, new haiku!
Not feeling 100% today...
Such a sad day overall in truth 😔 RIP to Chadwick Boseman, T'Challa of Wakanda. My heart is so broken, my condolences to his family 💔🙏
The coming week Im gonna see a doctor too. I hope that goes well.
Now, for the usual daily haiku!
This one is for Demeter, mother of Persephone, daughter of Kronos and Rhea and Goddess of Agriculture, but also health and marriage as well.

Of course, she is known for being apart of her daughter's myth. She fretted so much when Persephone was taken to the underworld. She was also known to be a grain mother for humans. The horn of plenty aka the cornucopia is one of her symbols as well as the torch hence they are referred in the haiku. The motherly figure who always gives and provides. Its very fitting, isnt it? A light in the darkness. A hope in the fear and dread.

Anyway, thank you all for growing followers, I'm forever humbled and grateful for the support 🙏🌹💜
Here's the link for the growing collection:
https://hellopoetry.com/collection/132853/the-women-of-myth/
Be back tomorrow with another one!
Please take care of yoursels and stay safe! RIP to Chadwick again 😭💔
Much love,
Lyn 💜

New day, new haiku!
The Younger Charites and the Furies have been completed! Now onto other women of myths, haha!

This haiku is for Lamia. Some myths say she was the Queen of Libya, some say she was just a regular woman. Some myths also say she was the daughter of Poseidon.

But she was known as a great beauty who caught the eye of Zeus which led into a love affair. Of course, when Hera caught wind of it, she was enraged  [we all know how reputed her rage is], and seeing how she could not take out her rage on her husband, she took it out on Lamia. Now it varies on how exactly, but either Hera did away with Lamia's children herself or she made Lamia end them herself. Worse of all, there's a version where Hera made Lamia devour her own babes.

No matter how, the end result is the same. Her children's lives were snuffed out. And she was turned into a monster. Again, some say by Hera but I have read variants that said that it was Zeus, curiously enough. The reason why Zeus did so was so that she could exact her vengeance upon the children of others.

On top of being made a monster, Hera twisted the knife further by cursing Lamia with restlessness so her heart will know no rest. She gouged her own eyes out but that didn't ease her pain because she couldnt unsee her children. Some myths say that Zeus gave her the power to remove her eyes himself.

Lamia's story is seen as a cautionary tale for children to behave.
Be it a phantom, a demon or an envious child eating monster, her origins are just so tragic. I truly feel for her...
Due to her depictions, there are links to her and the gorgons, vampires and succubi.
She is also linked to the Empousai [a shape shifting phantom who has a copper leg and was reportedly created by Hekate for purposes unknown], a Mormocyle [a female phantom whose name roughly translates to 'hideous/terrible wolf']. Lamiais were demons/phantoms who had the power of illusion. They take the form of a beautiful woman to lure young men to their deaths. They were said to have a snake's tail instead of legs.

Alot to take in, I know! I'm just a mega nerd for this sort of thing, haha!
But still, Lamia's story is so sad and tragic.

Anyway, thank you all for growing followers, I'm forever humbled and grateful for the support 🙏🌹💜
Here's the link for the growing collection:
https://hellopoetry.com/collection/132853/the-women-of-myth/
Be back tomorrow with another one!
Much love,
Lyn 💜

New day, new haiku!
Just when I thought I was getting better, I feel unwell again.
Just my luck, I swear...
This haiku is for the last of the Furies, Alecto. Alongside being the Goddess of Vengeance, she was also the Goddess of Anger. I believe her name translates into 'Unceasing Anger'.
She said that she punished criminals who committed crimes of anger, especially against others.
There is one thing that I find very interesting about the sisters as a whole - how the lines of vengeance and justice are completely blurred.
This sort of philosophy of vengeance and justice will always fascinate me.  


Anyway, thank you all for growing followers, I'm forever humbled and grateful for the support 🙏🌹💜
Here's the link for the growing collection:
https://hellopoetry.com/collection/132853/the-women-of-myth/
Be back tomorrow with another one!
Much love,
Lyn 💜

New day, new haiku!
Still focusing on the Furies and feeling much better today too! This haiku is for Megaera, know as The Jealous. I believe that is the case because as one of the Goddesses of Vengeance, she punishes oathbreakers.

Anyone who has broken any sort of oaths as well as punishing infidelity, especially martial infidelity. I always believed she is known as the jealous because she embodies the rage of a loyal partner who was scorned by their lover due to their infidelity. So poetically ironic in my opinion.

So this haiku was written with her voice in mind, in why she is exacting justice as well as a good partner's vengeance.
One curious fact is that her own parentage has been called into questions as some say that she was the daughter of Erebus and Nyx and not born from the blood of a castrated Uranus.

Anyway, thank you all for growing followers, I'm forever humbled and grateful for the support 🙏🌹💜
Here's the link for the growing collection:
https://hellopoetry.com/collection/132853/the-women-of-myth/
Be back tomorrow with another one!
Much love,
Lyn 💜

New day, new haiku!
Now that I have the Charites and the younger Charites out of the way, I wanted to focus on the Furies, who are among some of my favourite goddesses! The Furies are also known as the Erinnyes, and are known to be the goddesses of vengeance and each of the sisters punished different crimes. It is said that the Furies were born from the blood that was spilt when Kronos castrated his father, Uranus.

Tisiphone [aka Tilphousia] was known to punish criminals who commited homicide, patricide and fratricide. In the first line of the haiku, it is a reference to Virigl's Aeneid, where he described Tisiphone as being "clothed in a blood-wet dress." I changed it from dress to robe because in Ovid's Metamorphoses poem, she wore a red robe with a snake about her waist; which leads into line two. The Erinnyes have been depicited differently over the years but what stuck with me growing up was the image of them being like the gorgon sisters only; with bat like wings and snake-like hair.
And of course, the last line speaks of her role as a goddess of vengence.

Like her sister, she is a woman to be feared. A blood soaked beauty. It is quite fitting for her and her sisters to be servents of Hades and Persephone, punishing those criminals in Tartarus...

Anyway, thank you all for growing followers, I'm forever humbled and grateful for the support 🙏🌹💜
Here's the link for the growing collection:
https://hellopoetry.com/collection/132853/the-women-of-myth/
Be back tomorrow with another one!
Much love,
Lyn 💜

New day, new haiku!
Feeling slightly better but I'm making sure I dont overdue it.
Hard to believe that this poem marks my 960th poem too! Just wow!
Now for the last of the young Charites, children of Hephaestus and Aglaia [aka Kharis, one of the three Charites].

This is Philophrosyne, Goddess of Welcome, Friendliness and Kindness.
Again, not much on her but I see her as someone who also possesses childlike qualities, just wanting to see the best in everyone and everything. Making friends all over the world, and she treasures them deeply. This is based on some people I know in my day to day life.
Despite how cruel the world is, I still believe in the power of kindness...but I've learned to be cautious with it, as when people see kindness they may take advantage. Ive learnt this the hard way and I think I've gotten better at establishing boundaries with said kindness too.

Be kind but also dont be afraid to set boundaries. Welcome people from all over the world as you have friends you have yet to meet!
Anyway, thank you all for growing followers, I'm forever humbled and grateful for the support 🙏🌹💜
Here's the link for the growing collection:
https://hellopoetry.com/collection/132853/the-women-of-myth/
Be back tomorrow with another one!
Much love,
Lyn 💜

New day, new haiku!
Taking it slow and steady as always.
Three of the Charites, children of Hephaestus and Aglaia [aka Kharis, one of the three Charites] down and after this, one more to go!
This is Eupheme, goddess of praise. And again, there isnt much on her but like her sisters before her, I wanted to give her some character.
I picture Eupheme as someone who is diligent and hardworking at her passions, someone who is worthy of praise because of how much heart she puts into her work. I wanted to make her more human in that regard, you know. This is something we all deserve, praise for our passion.
Please just keep at what you do and be honest and open too.
The best is yet to come, for us all!

Anyway, thank you all for growing followers, I'm forever humbled and grateful for the support 🙏🌹💜
Here's the link for the growing collection:
https://hellopoetry.com/collection/132853/the-women-of-myth/
Be back tomorrow with another one!
Much love,
Lyn 💜