the Sphinx, bringer of bad luck and destruction,
half-woman and a lioness,
she throws Oedipus a riddle outside of Thebes
strangled with a curse:
*what goes on fours in the morning, two at midday
and three in the evening?*
Oedpius, born a prince, feet-mangled
and soon to be a king, well-traveled and bored
and wishing for greater challenges than a riddling sphinx
in his way, answers:
*look at me in my prime, I walk on two
and I crawled on fours
and I shall walk with a staff soon enough...*
that is the lot of my kind, humankind...
and the Sphinx,
not one to condone one better than itself,
devours itself...
Oct 22, 2010
Oct 22, 2010 at 2:03 AM UTC
the Sphinx, bringer of bad luck and destruction,
half-woman and a lioness,
she throws Oedipus a riddle outside of Thebes
strangled with a curse:
*what goes on fours in the morning, two at midday
and three in the evening?*
Oedpius, born a prince, feet-mangled
and soon to be a king, well-traveled and bored
and wishing for greater challenges than a riddling sphinx
in his way, answers:
*look at me in my prime, I walk on two
and I crawled on fours
and I shall walk with a staff soon enough...*
that is the lot of my kind, humankind...
and the Sphinx,
not one to condone one better than itself,
devours itself...
the famous riddle that the sphinx asked of Oedipus;also see my poem: 'the second riddle'
Request permission to use this poem