First, I will post the overall rules, and then I will post the specifics about this week.
Original rules, as stated by Ubertuna:
It must fit the week's theme. It must be submitted by the deadline. It cannot have inappropriate language in it. It cannot be stolen (if you plagiarize, we will find you).
Also:
The poem must be created for this contest A user cannot win two weeks in a row (though everyone is welcome to submit every week!) Only one submission per user will be accepted
As we all know, the winner will recieve a merit, and their poem will be featured on the _Poetry_ page.
OK, on to this week's topic...Again, we are having a style instead of a theme. Also, this week we are having TWO WEEKS to do it, instead of the usual one. Why? Because this will be an EPIC poem. Or, rather, a parody of an epic poem. Generally, epic poetry is very long, and tells the serious story of a heroic figure. Well, this week, the epic figure is YOU! Write a long poem (I'll leave the definition of 'long' up to you, but give it a good go) about the heroic story of you! It can be silly, serious, whatever... just have fun with it. You have two weeks, so have a great time!
My Tears Flow From Kokytos Also entitled, The Old Man of Crete
Intro:
My tears flow from Kokytos; Haides' river of lamentations. My sorrows bequeth from Man's nature. Eternal, I stand my vigil at the banks.
And through the march of and flow of time, The cries of those who are cast here Leap out and molest my ears, Only adding to my sorrow that brings these tears.
Verse I:Caina
"Abel! It is I crouching at your door! For am I not your Brother's keeper? Alas, cursed to lie beneath the ground, Enshrouded in my frost-white tomb."
"Your fury seven times have I come to know! And yet, is it not true that I have done you no harm? For cursed is the ground from which Cain worked, Cold, hard, unforgiving; only misery sprouts here now."
Verse II:Antenora
"No respite shall you find at my people's house! Nay, only a Panther Skin have they to offer the weary. Only too willing am I to open the door to my enemies, Despite the trouble they will pass on to my neighbor's house."
"For what is worth a moment's reprieve from this torment? Not even a face that could launch Ten-Thousand Ships? For even Ares would not save the d*mned whom the ice shackles, Although the Shroud of Peace is absent from this hell."
Verse III:Ptolomea
"What amount of gold or silver could my freedom buy? Better, how much does simple courage cost? For what I perceived to be cunning and ingenuity, Was only Eris, clad in a web of fine mist."
"How voluntarily I welcomed them into my home! And voluntarily I slaughtered them as they dined! Thus my betrayal is deemed a hundred-fold worse, And I curse the day I came forth from my mother's womb!"
Verse IV:Judecca
"Frozen in my eyes lie my countless tears. How I weep at my sin of my great betrayal! For only I hold acclaim to the death of the Lord, And have deserved this flaying from Satan's claws."
"For at the heart of Hell I dwell forever, With Brutus and Cassius as my eternal friends. And how Satan here will grind my bones, His ears deaf to my cries, my pleas."
Coda:
And alone, I sit on my pedestal. As eternity watches over them. And Kokytos flows 9 times around, Encircling this realm of Haides.
But who am I to ramble on? As I dwell here on its icy shores. And forever you shall find me here, For my tears come from Kokytos.
I would mind if it were a puddle of water It's a place that I don't feel like a cannon fodder I watch the waves lap the shore This place gives me peace from its core
Misty mountains awake over yonder I look at my haven, and I begin to ponder Why can't others feel this surreal But their lives are more shaky than a ships keel
I hear the cry of a blue heron Without this place, my life would be baron Here I can escape myself Put the old me on a dusty shelf
I start to shuffle back to the wood If I could start anew, I certainly should But I can't leave my Forrest chums From deer to fish, Daisies to mums
So that's why Im here where nature does subside A new me is being born, the city me died I love my private shore more than anything I stand on the sand and begin to sing Then my alarm clock begins to ring