Goal I Set My Heart

Goal I Set My Heart
© Surazeus
2024 06 18

Though often racing down dead ends of hope 
that lead me lost in tangled fears of death, 
I always find again the proper road 
that leads me toward the goal I set my heart 
so I overcome obstacles of pain 
to lounge safe in apple grove by the lake. 

To lie at ease beneath broad canopy 
of frilly leaves that flutter in cool breeze, 
and watch young children of our tribe play free 
with voices ringing in still forest gloom, 
inspires my heart with love for everything 
that blooms from bounty of this fertile vale. 

When I was still young, with heart full of verve 
for vigorous passion to explore the world, 
I sailed to Colchis in swift Argo, far 
from cozy haven where my mother dwells, 
with gang of friends to capture herd of sheep 
in quest that now fills my afternoon dreams. 

Intense moments of danger, when we faced 
monsters in both forests and palaces, 
flash bright with fraught anxiety of hope 
that blinds my eyes to beauty of this hour, 
which often startles me awake with dream 
in sultry evening buzzed with cricket song. 

When darkness shrouds lake grove in eerie gloom, 
the gentle people of my tribe return 
to gather round the shining hearth I tend 
with baskets of food they plucked in the woods, 
and cook grand feast for everyone to eat, 
faces flush with joy in glow of the fire. 

After they finish eating feast of hope, 
just as the full moon rises in black sky 
to gleam over distant hills thick with trees, 
young woman with owl eyes asks me to sing 
tale relating adventures of my youth, 
so I pluck strings of my turtle-shell lyre. 

I told you how the swift Argo was built, 
and name of each hero who joined our crew, 
so now I will relate how we arrived 
on rocky shore of Lemnos where we found 
daughter of Dionysus bearing wand 
wound with vines of grapes that dazed us with joy. 

Enchanting their attentive hearts with song, 
I recount how the women killed the men 
for sleeping with girls they kidnapped in raids, 
finish with moral that men should respect 
women who trust them to guard them with love, 
then they sleep as I hum soft lullabies.