‘Gods Having Too Much Fun’ by Cheryl Corey

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When the goddesses came by the light of the dawn,
They were greeted with music, and what did they see,
But a flute that was pressed to the lips of a Faun
As he leaned up against a deciduous tree;

As the melody played he stepped out from the shade,
And the ladies were prompted to follow his lead,
From the forested grove to a welcoming glade,
That in turn opened up to a flowering mead;

And they giggled with glee when Apollo appeared,
And his cohorts presented a wreath for each head;
By the hand they were led to a place that was cleared
For the taking of ease on a cushiony bed;

They were seated before a delectable feast:
There were cheeses and fruits and amphorae of wine,
And ambrosias and nectars from far to the east,
And in no time at all they proceeded to dine;

So they quaffed of the drink and they ate of the grape,
And their singing was loud, till above in the sky
Came a thunderous clap and their mouths fell agape;
But a search of the heavens bedeviled their eye,

For the sky was as clear as could be; and then out
Of the west there appeared a mysterious cloud;
But the closer it came there was nary a doubt
That the king of the gods had sent Pegasus. Cowed

Into silence, they watched him alight on the ground,
And as warning against their indulgence and mirth,
With a kick of his hoof made a clangorous sound,
That gave birth to a murmuring spring in the earth;

And it dazzled their eyes to see breaks in the sod,
And a spraying of water so bright and so clean,
That they bowed to the steed, who with whinny and nod,
Had created a fountain—Hippocrene!

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Cheryl Corey’s recent credits include the current issue of Iconoclast and www.grand-little-things.com. Other publications include Iambs & Trochees, Deronda, The NeoVictorian/Cochlea, The Comstock Review, Mobius, and Time of Singing. In 2007 she received 1st Place for the Dylan Thomas Award and Honorable Mention for the June Kraeft Memorial Award in The World Order of Narrative and Formalist Poets contest.