Nahrenne

This poem contains mature content, reader discretion is advised.

On an island ruled by women;
Yes, it is true, there is such a place 
You may feel repulsed and think there’s no taste
In having a land
In the disgraceful hands
Of a woman, a lady, a girl.

Now on this island,
Gender was no issue,
They were all taught together
Man, woman and child,
Although,
You all seem beguiled.

Now at this school was a
Young woman.
A beauty some would have said
Could not be compared:
With flowing locks of hair,
The colour of the sun
Her eyes beyond compare,
Poseidon ruling the seas within.
With sun kissed skin
Giving a warm, radiant glow,
Her body all supple,
With runner’s long legs
She could go a distance
In as short a time as possible
Although, she never partook in games,
Never played with others or even interacted.
A solitary creature, she was;
Preferring trees and animals
Over humans and gods.

The name of such a maiden?
Why, it was Daphne of course!
And her father?
The inventor and philosopher, Ladon!

A tutor at this school was he,
As were Apollo and Cupid.
The one with darts was clever
The one with arrows, stupid
Chasing girls who caught his attention
Usually giving him massive erections.
Such was the foolish god of the sun
Oh, do pardon my pun
I was having a little too much fun
When talking about this dunce.

Now, although, he was not known for his brains,
He was however, for his beauty:

With hair like the sun
Shining gold in the light
With bronze glowing skin
And a well-toned body,
All the girls fawned over him
Making him used to the folly
Of the idea of no female saying words of rejection
To the fair young man of Lesbos.

Now, a rivalry there was
Between the two tutors,
Due to the games they supervised
With their students,
The intellectual darts 
And the girly bow and arrows.

There was one student who did both,
He originally came from Sparta.
I say ‘he’ because that was what he was born as,
Although, due to Sparta’s traditions
And his body being frail,
His mother raised him as a girl
Instead of him as a male.
Leucippus was his name
And to become a man was his aim.
And who else could he do this with
But the fair Daphne?

Now his story is short, but not sweet.
He confessed to said girl
But did not get acknowledged
And so his fleeting romance
Was cut short
And he met his life’s end
When an arrow was caught
From the shaft of Apollo
Inside the young man’s rear.

With this, the main story begins
No more descriptions,
No more menial things.
The story starts with an argument,
A row between Cupid and Apollo.
You all seem to want to know
So let us all find out.

Their argument was trivial
But also important.
Apollo mocked Cupid
In his brash and crude way
He said: ‘My little Cupid!
My arrows are longer than your darts,
The shaft wider too.
How can you teach children to throw darts
When you yourself don’t have a clue
On how to arouse interest
In our little women,
And have them feel said arrows
And experience the pleasure
Of releasing the pressure
After holding the power back
Before thrusting it
Into the target.’

Offended by his words
Cupid thought of Daphne
The chaste girl who loved no thing
But the plants and animals
She reared herself.
Now this, thought he
Would be a challenge,
Something that would end in tragedy
For the musical man, Apollo.

He suggested to the lyre-playing one
To teach the class of biology
In his place,
As he was not going to be there
For he was attending the yearly race
That would give the winner a great prize.

And so, with a look of unenthusiasm,
Apollo accepted although he seemed to despise
The very thought of filling up the chasm
Of no lessons for the students.

The first day of teaching,
Cupid was still there,
He spoke to Apollo before leaving,
Trying to look like he cared.
But as he got up close to him
He gave him a little prick
From his little dart
Covered in his love
Something that would affect Apollo’s
Body.

At first, nothing was happening,
At least not for a few minutes.
Apollo began the lesson
And he was starting to feel the heat
Rising within his body.
As the young man looked at his students for the first time
He saw Daphne in all her bedazzling beauty
And felt his heart go beating.
And below a deep thrumming
Getting bigger and bigger.

His next target had been made,
The girl Daphne was her name,
And, as we know, it was a shame,
Because there was no way she would play his game.

Throughout the lesson told
By the young man, Apollo,
He went up to her all bold,
And asked her to follow
His teachings in his techniques
In which arrow was thrust in target.

But being the recluse that she was,
She paid no attention, being cruel and cold.
Like all the others before the man
He had no chance.
The only thing he succeeded in
Was catching a glimpse, a glance
At her features, oh so perfect,
Such was the predicament for this chap.

After school had finished,
The girl rushed out in joy,
For she could go nurture nature,
Although Apollo saw this as a ploy
To meet in some secret place,
Away from prying eyes,
And so gave chase to dear Daphne
The dilemma of Cupid’s price
To pay for mocking his skill and ability.

Upon catching up to his maiden so fair
He found himself upon her lair
Of fauna and flora and flowers and weeds.
He continued on, though
With ill intent and misdeeds
Towards the young girl’s whole-some heart.

The young man wished to impress her
So started playing his lyre,
Unfortunately she was in her own world
Caring for the plants and trees and grass
And so his music was unheard,
Such was the ignorance of the dear lass.

Next, he tried to show his skills in archery,
However, upon seeing his massive arrow,
With its big head and long length,
She used her legs to run away,
Using all of her strength.
And from Apollo’s sight
She was gone,
And Apollo sprinted behind her
Going after his perfect prey.
In her mind she thought of her father,
The eccentric known as Ladon.

In the school down a corridor she went,
Her energy almost completely spent.
Her father was a man of science,
He worked on a potion of guidance,
That would grant the user a gift,
Saying what would make a very long list
And so I’ll leave it at that.

Now as I was saying,
Daphne tried to find the eccentric,
But was sadly failing.
Isn’t this story quite epic?

The story’s final stage arrived,
And the potion was now complete.
Daphne, after seeing Ladon cried,
And thought within her mind:
‘Father! I wish to become discreet!
I wish to be free from beastly men!
I wish I could just be with nature,
Forever until I die.’

As she thought these words
She reached her father
And knocked the potion
Out of his hands.
his potion granted gifts, you see,
And Daphne’s was for freedom,
So when she turned into a tree
She could no longer be eaten
By the man who was like a beast
His love for could never cease
As his stupidity and folly
Meant he thought with his body.
Thus the characters in this story
Meet a tragic end.

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