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Lyn-Purcell Aug 2020

Pure as baby's breath
Veils be blessed with good repute
when two becomes one


New day, new haiku!
Feeling better today, too, slowly but surely!
As promised, I'm moving onto the daughters of Hephaestus and Aglaia [aka Kharis, one of the three Charites] and the first woman of myth is Eukleia [aka Eucleia], who is a goddess of good repute and glory.

There isn't much on her per say, but she is linked with Artemis. Sometimes, people take Eukleia for Artemis. Well, that's what Plutarch did anyway.
Like her mother and aunts, she was known to be an attendant for Aphrodite as well as representing the good repute of a pure bride.

Baby's breath is known to symbolise innocence, which links in with a beautiful bride in white and I always like to think that Eukleia blesses the veils of every bride before they walk down the aisle.
I wanted to paint the image of a final blessing for a woman before she walks down the aisle to be one with her other half.

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 💜
Lyn-Purcell Aug 2020

Fair and bright beauty
Light feet revel with swift song
Joy blooms in her soul


New day, new haiku!
Feeling better today, haha!
I'm onto the last of the three Charities, Thalia. (Not to confused with Thalia the Muse, haha!)

Again, there isn't much on her as she is depicted with her sisters dancing.
But she does have a connection to spring. Her name, Thalia, comes from the Ancient Greek word, 'θάλλειν.' The Greek word 'thállein' means"to flourish, to be verdant - hence the connection to spring.

I also found that her name is also an adjective used to describe festivities, banquets and such.
Now that the main three Charites are done, I will be moving onto the younger ones! ^-^

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 💜
Lyn-Purcell Aug 2020

She with cheeks so fair
Her eyes dance with merriment
Love encrowns her brows


New day, new haiku!
Still working on feeling better too.
Now for the second woman of the Charites, Euphrosyne.
There isn't much on her per say.
No particular story that stands out, just that she is depicted dancing with her sisters. And that there is a mosaic depicting her with Akratus, servant of Dionysus and demi-God of unmixed wine.
Even so, she always struck me as lovely and joyous.
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 💜
Lyn-Purcell Aug 2020

Milk maid with gold crown
Rose-tinted cheeks glow with warmth
Smiles with loving grace


New day, new haiku!
I'm feeling alot better today, thankfully!
I'm going to be working on the Charites now.
The three goddesses of beauty, grace, joy, dance and song and I'm starting with Aglaia, who was also known as Kharis, and she was the wife of Hephaestus. She brought him much joy, splendor and glory (which is what her name translates to) and bore him children after the whole Ares-Aphrodite incident.

She gave birth to four more Charites with Hephaestus which I will write about about the main three are done. The Charites are depicted as beautiful naked women , I've seen alot of art and I remember seeing an ivory story of them in a museum with some friends. They truly were gorgeous to behold.

I truly believe Aglaia is good for Hephaestus, he deserves some love and warm, and I wanted to show that in the haiku.
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 💜
Lyn-Purcell Aug 2020

Fire in nymph's eyes
Hips sway with star-studded scales
As lips feast on flesh


New day, new haiku!
Still not 100% but slowly but surely I'm getting there.
This haiku is for Echidna, also known as the Mother of Monsters, and one of the deadliest mythical creatures around. She is the wife of Typhon, a Storm Giant, and (depending on the myth) is daughter of Tartatus and Gaea or Phorys and Ceto.

She is known to have the upper body of a beautiful woman and the tail of a reptile. She became known as the Mother of Monsters because she birthed some of the most legendary Greek creatures, such as the Gorgons, the Chimera, Scylla, the Sphinx, the Nemean Lion and many more.

As terrible and powerful as she is, I find there to be a certain level of charm also. I wanted to picture a woman who is fiery, terrible, powerful and yet seductive and I hope I did so in this haiku.

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 💜
BB Ward Aug 2020
I want to bottle that feeling
warm August air
dappled green sunlight
pushing into your arms
feeling that steady
heartbeat of life
heavy on my chest

I loved it all
every second
swathed in a drunken haze
the way you held me
in the dirt
let me kiss
your brittle bones
showed me all the scars
whispered every secret

I'd drink it if I could
that world-bending elixir of
anything, everything
rapturous murmurings
and quiet moments
we floated in
backs to the water
with worlds swimming below

I want you, you
all of you
emerald eyes
gentle smile
wanderer of the heart
touch me in my darkest places
let me know I'm yours
no matter the distance

yours, yours
always yours
am I hopeless romantic? perhaps
Lyn-Purcell Aug 2020

Born in chaos dawn
Led by her defiant heart
Rise to conquer plains


New day, new haiku!
Still not feeling 100%, but I'm getting there.
This one is for Gaia, Mother Earth, wife and mother of Ouranos (Father Sky to her Mother Earth) and mother to the Titans (which includes Kronos and Rhea).

History certainly has a way of repeating itself. Before Zeus rose against his father Kronos for the position of King of the Gods, Kronos did the same with Ouranous. Though he birthed children with Gaea, he reputedly hated them and sealed his Giant-children back in her womb. In an act of defiance, she rose against him and Kronos joined, for he loathed his father. When the battle was won, Kronos became King of the Gods...before the prophecy came to him that he too would be deposed by one of his offsprings. When this happened, Gaea sided with Zeus and helped him rise to Kingship.

Well, that was until he sealed her children in Tartaros after the war was won. When she tried to rise against Zeus, all her attempts failed.
I made referrence to Tartarus and the battles she fought with the first line
And Tartarus was seen as a pit that lies deep within the Earth (that was his body apparently and she gave birth to the Giants by mating with him).
Gaea too is a bit of a badass in my eyes for rising (and winning) against two Gods at least.

Nature always wins (reference to Poison Ivy hehe)
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 💜
Lyn-Purcell Aug 2020

Gentle gardener
Heart screams when her fruits are plucked
Hope comes bolting by


New day, new haiku!
Yesterday, I just suddenly felt so weak and exhausted so I couldnt post this. I'm feeling a little better though but still so weak...
This one is for the Titaness, Rhea, the Great Mother, Queen of Heaven and wife of Kronos.
The haiku is alluding to Zeus' birth story and his eventual take down of his father.
You see, Kronos too was told a prophecy that one of his offspring would replace him. So every time he and Rhea had a child, he swallowed them.
I've seen the paintings for this depictions and...all I can say is wow really.
Just wow.
Rhea, mortified and sick of this, wanted to at least enjoy the fruits of motherhood so when she gave birth to Zeus, she his him in a cave and put a rock in baby clothes. Kronos didnt notice at first and just swallowed it and in a variant myth, he was raised in the cave and another said he was sent to Crete.
This situation is much the borth of Perseus with Danaë, and yet again another case of meeting ones destiny in desperation to avoid it,
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 💜
Lyn-Purcell Aug 2020

Scar on regal heart
Her brightness shields her venom
Words she built shall break


New day, new haiku!
This one is for Phaedra, a Cretan Princess and sister of Ariadnê.
Though I know of her, she is one woman of myth I do not like.
After her sister ran off with Theseus, Phaedra herself fell in love with his son, Hippolytus. When he rejected her, she decided to write a letter to Theseus, saying that he had violated her and Hippolytus was killed.

Now the matter of his death varies from myth to myth. In one variant, his father cursed him, using one of Poseidon's curses to do so - i.e. a sea creature dragged him to his watery death. In another variant, his own father ended his own life, and another said that Dionysus sent a bull to do the deed.

To make things worse, Phaedra was his STEP-MOTHER, the second wife to Theseus. *Lyn gaves herself a big facepalm*
Given all this, strangely, she was seen as a tragic character in mythology. Personally, I don’t understand why because I found her to be spiteful [and that honestly hasn’t changed when I read more on WHY she was so ‘tragic’].

In a small variant myth, Hippolytus rejected the Goddess of Love herself to stay faithful to Artemis, for his faith in her was unshakeable. [I still find that to be very admirable as hell.] As expected, Aphrodite was enraged by his ‘snub’ and to punish him, she cursed Phaedra to fall for him. So
I think what makes me dislike her is the whole ‘If I can’t have him, no one can’ attitude. Just because of his willingness to honour a goddess, to stay faithful to her, a woman [or women] sought to effectively destroy him for it! And what better way than with her words, right? Words may be light but they carry so much weight, this applies to us all. Everyone one regardless of gender.

They are the most powerful and dangerous thing in the world in my opinion. Ironically, the name Phaedra is derived from the word ‘phaidros’, meaning "bright" and well, I don’t see much that is bright about her because shes not being painted in a good light. [Pun intended!]

There is a variant myth of Theseus taking Hippolytus’ life after reading Phaedra’s letter and in her grief, she took her own as that is not what she wanted.

I suppose what makes me dislike her is how situations like this happen in day to day life, which is not only sad but also really scary too. Even with the myth of her doing what she did because she was cursed by Aphrodite, to me that is no justification. Words are like actions, they all have consequences. I know we are all human and all, but the lesson I took from this is to mind what I said because it may come back to haunt me. At some point in our lives, we have all said something that we regret. But we live and learn and grow. Especially in this day and age now.

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 💜
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