Being set on the idea
Of getting to Atlantis,
You have discovered of course
Only the Ship of Fools is
Making the voyage this year,
As gales of abnormal force
Are predicted, and that you
Must therefore be ready to
Behave absurdly enough
To pass for one of The Boys,
At least appearing to love
Hard liquor, horseplay and noise.

Should storms, as may well happen,
Drive you to anchor a week
In some old harbour-city
Of Ionia, then speak
With her witty scholars, men
Who have proved there cannot be
Such a place as Atlantis:
Learn their logic, but notice
How its subtlety betrays
Their enormous simple grief;
Thus they shall teach you the ways
To doubt that you may believe.

If, later, you run aground
Among the headlands of Thrace,
Where with torches all night long
A naked barbaric race
Leaps frenziedly to the sound
Of conch and dissonant gong:
On that stony savage shore
Strip off your clothes and dance, for
Unless you are capable
Of forgetting completely
About Atlantis, you will
Never finish your journey.

Again, should you come to gay
Carthage or Corinth, take part
In their endless gaiety;
And if in some bar a ****,
As she strokes your hair, should say
"This is Atlantis, dearie,"
Listen with attentiveness
To her life-story: unless
You become acquainted now
With each refuge that tries to
Counterfeit Atlantis, how
Will you recognise the true?

Assuming you beach at last
Near Atlantis, and begin
That terrible trek inland
Through squalid woods and frozen
Thundras where all are soon lost;
If, forsaken then, you stand,
Dismissal everywhere,
Stone and now, silence and air,
O remember the great dead
And honour the fate you are,
Travelling and tormented,
Dialectic and bizarre.

Stagger onward rejoicing;
And even then if, perhaps
Having actually got
To the last col, you collapse
With all Atlantis shining
Below you yet you cannot
Descend, you should still be proud
Even to have been allowed
Just to peep at Atlantis
In a poetic vision:
Give thanks and lie down in peace,
Having seen your salvation.

All the little household gods
Have started crying, but say
Good-bye now, and put to sea.
Farewell, my dear, farewell: may
Hermes, master of the roads,
And the four dwarf Kabiri,
Protect and serve you always;
And may the Ancient of Days
Provide for all you must do
His invisible guidance,
Lifting up, dear, upon you
The light of His countenance.

One: The Gathering

Lo, on a field of green
Came a few warriors
Tired from endless battle
Of killing in senseless need
So together they thus decided
Something new must arise

A scattering of small huts
Were slowly built by these
A wall erected to protect
As something new was born
Once brave men, now farmers
Near the forgotten oceans

More came to this gathering
Begging entrance to be inside
For naught was sought but peace
A name was needed for here
As something born of the future
Everyone wanted to be in Atlantis

Two: Brothers

The wall kept those away
Attempting to invade inside
But security was stronger
As peace dwelled within
Foundations of an army
Protecting Atlantis from harm

Two brothers slowly plotted
How could there be peace
If no one wanted to rule?
They decided to take control
To overthrow those in council
Wanting to have power themselves

As with those who want
Both brothers plotted
Secretly against each other
Gaining two sets of followers
Deciding each was the best
To have order of Atlantis

One night two huts were ablaze
Two bodies found in the flames
For both brothers were dead
Greed had been their downfall
Once again thoughts were gone
But the seeds of betrayal were sown

Three: Fated Love

She was a warrior's daughter
But he was a farmer's son
Fell in love and secret trysts
On the cliff tops where nobody came
There it was where love came true

For she was promised to another
To an older warrior she belonged
Only she wished to follow her soul
But she knew they would slay him
Or cast him and his family out

Each night they made love
Under the moon and stars
Ignoring those unsafe rocks
For they only saw their hearts
They would be together, forever

But hidden caves lay beneath
The ground opened up under them
Both plunged down to their deaths
Until a search was made to find them
A discovery of the caves under Atlantis

Four: The Caves

Miles of rope were used
With flaming torches
For those brave to explore
The mysteries of the caves
Of the treasures they had

Strange encrusted gems
Found embedded in the walls
Mined and brought to the surface
Where the wealth of Atlantis
Became a legend to behold

These caves were too valuable
Outside forces would come
For years they crafted below
While warlords battled above
There would come the first king

As a city was created underground
A war council was born to defend
Never to see the slendours
That only a select few would see
But it would take a century

Three kings would come to rule
As the city in the caves took shape
Where wondows watched the ocean
A stairway of gold led down
The city of Atlantis was born

Copyright Chris Smith 2013

Take me with you to your Atlantis
Where hues of blue glisten in noons
For eternity we embrace in its promise

Are days of sober in crystallic bliss
Are nights of glacial comfort under mystic lunes
Take me with you to your Atlantis

Wash me into a tender kiss
Too soft to be witnessed but the full moons
For eternity we embrace in its promise

Beyond boundaries of mortality at this
ocean, through the skies and dunes
Take me with you to your Atlantis

Volumes and arks fill up the abyss
with painted tales of Atlantic ruins
For eternity we embrace in its promise

When love dreamily left only to reminisce
as the ink of Plato seeped in tunes
Take me with you to your Atlantis
For eternity we embrace in its promise