Greek for Geeks
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Anabasis
By Joseph Markenstein 3-17-2018
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The Пἁραλος (Paralos) O Son of the mythological Poseidon1, Your Trident2 has received; A terrific mast and oars boar either side on, With oarsmen stoutly cleaved. The sea-side and the fire-side, by your bed-side Manners proved fair war-fare, The party Democratic is Old Iron-Sides3 Even Hoover4 might forbear. If the Paralos5 could have faced Pausanias6 The General who marched Over land and sea to conquer Mardonius7 With a toga that’s starched. Pausanias would give in to the Athenians Not wage that bitter war! 1
Poseidon- The god of the sea, water, earthquakes and horses. Son of Cronos and Rhea and brother of Zeus. Depicted with a trident. 2 Trident- a chewing gum and also the three pronged weapon of Poseidon. 3 Old Iron Sides- USS Constitution. Active in the War of 1812 against the British. 4 Herbert Hoover- 8-10-1874 to 10-20-1964 was the 31st president of the United States of America 5 Paralos- a war ship in service for the last battle of the Peloponnesian Wars in 411 B.C. 6 Pausanias- an ancient Greek historian/poet. 7 An island off the coast of western Turkey.
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Rather would be reconciliatory in Wagering some stake more. In freeing the Hellespont8 from the tyranny Of the very Spartans9 In making the Athenians pay their pennies For Vermillion10 Sands. This new arc of a Democratic Government Fought the fight at Samos11 Against the Spartan Oligarchs in chastisement Of Democracy! Most, The Paralos goes not with blazing guns in tow, No, they’d never know how. The Paraloi deploy diplomacy on their foe, To halt it here and now. Where e’r I think of Story and history, I will always ponder The battle of 411 B. C. as though I see the sea of soldiers.
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The area of western Turkey occupied by the ancient Greeks. Sparta- Western Attica; that area of Greece that is the main peninsula. 10 Vermillion- a brilliant red pigment made from mercury sulfide. (cinnabar) 11 Samos- an island on the Turkish side of the Aegean sea. 9
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The Paralos like other ship’s opprobrium Ever peaceful mission Sank not so much by the French Emporium, Rather superstition.
Alexander Long, though not so long, after the Peloponnesian War, Alexander, you came along to conquer the world for Greece, Your obedience to the oracle of Δelphi12 gave the Far West some peace. With the fury of Sparta, the intellect of Athens, your passions Run deep as the Styger13 River of Hades setting upon it’s wreaths. Now peep in your dreams of sleep the Metaphysical of Aristotle; The baby bottle, the throttle of complete self-objection; Fallasayically14 beg the question: “Who is like unto God?” Be meek! And press not past the Kash”schmear”15 of India and their ton Of mortar fire and Rockets “Congrevean”16 in some conflagration To be Devoutly Dismissed! 12
Δelphi (Delphi)- a place of oracles where a priestess delivered her serpentine messages from Apollo our of a python’s mouth. 13 Styger River- A river of hades associable with Lethe, the river of Hypnos. 14 Fallasayically- and arcane use of Fallacy, i.e. a phony argument. 15 Kash”schmear”- a play on the words Kashmir and Schmear, i.e. spread liberally. 16 Congrevean- Sir William Congreve developed a rocket in 1804 based on the Mysorean rockets of eastern India though it goes back to China around 700 B.C. with gunpowder.
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Narcissus17 Narcissus, by far, You are a thinker. Nemesis did mar, Reflections tinker. Echo18 loved you much, Strident to love more. Resounded as such, Your face gently bore The Mask of Hades19 Not seen and yet heard The Dog had rabies But your wings were birds. You cried out Echo! And Echo! Echo! He was so macho! He w’s Rio Bravo!20
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Narcissus- was a hunter known for his beauty. He was the son of the river god Cephissus and nymph Liriope. He distained those who loved him so Nemesis led him to a pool where he fell in love with his own reflection and thought it was real because Echo would answer him. 18 Echo- was an Oread nymph who resided on Mount Cithaeron. Hera cursed her to only speak the last words of any sentence. 19 Haidos Kuneen in Greek or Dog helmet of invisibility. 20 Rio Bravo is a 1959 American Western film directed by Howard Hawks and staring John Wayne, Dean Martin and Walter Brennan.
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Now all you have are His echoes waning I’ the nadir21 dark, Him ever waiting To embrace himself As another one, To retrace himself As no other one. Curse of Nemesis22 On himself had laid Never Echo’s kiss His lips had e’r made. He languished in sin; For that love of her That was really him; And grew an arbor23. A tree of delights Was left after death. Now all that bedights: A flower of breath.
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Nadir- the lowest point of a crevasse or the astronomical point directly below an observer. 22 Nemesis- the goddess who enacted retribution against those with arrogance before the gods or “hubris.” 23 Arbor- an arcane word for tree.
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Yellow tinged with white, A sign of friendship, Purity cloaked in night, A guardianship.
Morpheus By Night Morpheus, by night descending, Passed imperceived by most; Except one darling host; My mother by rites ascending. Grasping for the dark of night She released herself so free And left life on the shore to be, Or not to be? The widow’s mite. Her song: Morpheus descending. Her poem: Loneliness as lover. Her line was just as clever as Her plane song: Jesus Ascending. Into the dark abode, strode he, The great Morpheus descending. The Durant24 Knight past pending; Mete offices of dreams in sleep. 24
Durant- a flaxy woolen material
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Hypnos bequeathed you with a life Of beau dreams in evening shades; As Joseph25 did Jacob26 upbraid, In Mortal phantasms so cade.27 Interpolations28 of visions So oblique to the eyes of men, He gives them to many women; Exterpolation’s29 revisions. Is your brother not Phantǣsos? Apparition? Recognition? The fosse30, where in the ignition Morpheus is the Phantasia! Morpheus’ wings flaxed31 relaxed! He says: “Oh Opium, Opium! Wherefore art thou O Opium? My feet are stumbling parallaxed32!
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Joseph- From Genesis chapters 37-45 The aforementioned Joseph’s father from Genesis 25-45 27 Cade- a calf that’s been removed from its mother and bottle fed. 28 The insertion of something of a different nature into something else. 29 Removal of a foreign object. An arcane antonym for interpolation. 30 Fosse- a ditch, usually deep. The nadir deep of a crevasse. 31 Flaxed- of flax, being textile fiber from the flax plant. 32 Parallax- when the position of an object appears to differ in positions 26
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His coat of arms are black and white; Pandora’s box33 of ivory dreams Hangs aloof from his seam of seems; Sandman shuttering eyes so tight. Aurora34 shall wake Morpheus Not! He is in slumber-vapor; Making every dream his caper! For thus has spoke Philostratus35!
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Pandora’s Box- is an artifact in Greek mythology in Hesiod’s Works and Days. When Pandora disobeyed her master and peeked in the box, it spread sin all over her and she didn’t leave the box open long enough to let the hope out. 34 Aurora- the goddess who awakes Morpheus 35 Philostratus- an ancient Greek historian/poet.
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