Echo loved Mount Kithairon…
…the flora wild and blowing…
Her limbs were lithe and strong.
Her hair a thatch to catch the breeze.
Her rising voice in song could reach,
the valley’s deepest soul…but then…
The lecher Zeus swept down on her…
with zealous Hera close behind,
and there was vengeance in the air.
Echo called to Hera
with soft beguiling words.
She tried to ease her jealous pain,
to minimise the flirting games
that Hera’s husband played….
….but all in vain..
Hera revenged her with a Curse !
Poor Echo now forever more..
would just repeat the last words
that she heard.
Echo wandered aimlessly..
thru every leaf and lane…
Until she found Narcissus
handsome…vain,
transfixed by his own image..
in a pool..
Echo fell in love..
She threw her arms around him.
Narcissus …being a prickly poppy
rose up…’ be gone to Kiribati !
May I die before you know my body,’
‘Know my body’
Echo was compelled to say…
repelling his desire completely.
And there…in Quasi Paradise..
Narcissus gazed in longing at his watery self,
Rejected Echo by his side.
And just before he died…he said
‘Oh marvellous boy…I loved in vain..
Farewell.’
Poor Echo then replied…
‘Farewell’. she said.
Kristine Byrne. Jan 9th 2018….
Echo and Narcissus J.W. Waterhouse. 1903