Origin Myths Sonnet

Origin Myths Sonnet
Surazeus

Old men with long beards and eyes full of stars
sat around stone altars of glowing flames
and told fantastic tales about ancestors,
describing clever acts of their achievements,
how they controlled fire and invented tools,
homes, bowls, sandals, musical instruments,
spears, swords, helmets, wagons on rolling wheels,
and other useful things that ease our lives.
Children who listened to elders relate
achievements of dead men misunderstood
and pictured mortal ancestors long dead
as immortal gods who personify
landscapes and elements of natural world,
and so devised myths to explain all things.

from Library of Demetrios Phalereus
Hermead Epic of Philosophers
http://tinyurl.com/HermeadEditions