THEBES
I am a princess, I live in Thebes,
Although royal, not perfect me,
My father and mother rule the place,
From our magnificent palace,
My father is wise, my mother is fair,
My sister and my brothers, we all live here,
I think I know where I come from,
I am princess Antigone.
Oedipus, swollen footed, my great pa,
Came from a city, afar,
He slew a beast that terrorized everything,
And married my mother and became king,
My lovely mother Jocasta,
Had been married to the previous master,
But he’d been slain by murder and fear,
Father saved our city before I was ever here!
After my short life of happiness,
Which could have never continued the same, I guess,
Thebes has been struck by pestilence and dearth,
The people beg the limping king to unearth,
Some great wisdom from the gods,
How do we lift this curse, with which we are at odds?
My father has sent uncle Creon to the Delphi seer,
He will return to make things clear.
A meeting has been called! Creon has returned!
We sit nervously and listen to all he has learned,
Creon opens up before the assembly,
‘This is what the seer of Delphi sees:
Our old king Laius was taken by an evil deed,
And the killer lives here in Thebes!
We live under a curse, that the gods said we deserved,
And so things will stay until justice is served!’
Looking troubled my father Oedipus,
Proclaimed, ‘I shall look into this,
Let a man who served that king be brought,
We need a witness, let him be sought,’
And eventually, an old soldier stood before the assembly,
‘I witnessed the death of king Laius’ said he,
‘We were on the road to Corinth from here,
In the royal chariot, when we came near,
A stranger who stood in the road,
And he would not move, he was too bold,
Laius gave him orders to move off,
But at this the stranger did scoff,
Laius got out of the chariot and a fight did proceed,
Our old king lost, I admit, I was frightened and I did flee.’
King Oedipus was grim and let it show,
‘Tell us anything else you know,’
The old soldier spoke low,
‘The whole thing had a strange run,
For the oracle said that Laius would be killed by his son,
And as all can see and is plainly shown,
That king had no son, that is known,’
My father looked ill at ease,
He dismissed everyone, apart from mother and me.
‘I have something very grave to discuss,
I may have made a great mistake that concerns all of us.’
‘I was a prince of Corinth and had everything one could need,
To live a happy life, to let good proceed,
But one day in my youth, at a feast,
I was told by a stranger, that I was the beast,
For the seer at Delphi had made a sight,
That I would kill my father, take my mother as wife,
I was sick with agony, and left those I adored,
To avoid a horrible fate, that since then I have ignored,
I met men on the road, and things did turn out,
Just the way that soldier talked about.’
My mother Jocasta let out a cry,
‘This horror will not end, for I will not lie!
I did bear a son by Laius, in secret,
Due to the prophecy, the king had him nailed through the feet,
And we left the poor infant on a mountain,
But he must have been found and saved, I am now certain’
Father looked shocked at his own deformed foot,
Mother shivered, cried and shook,
I was too amazed to think,
That I was a product of this thing,
Oedipus let out a mighty moan,
Jocasta fled from the room,
I ran out to find the arms of Ismene,
Although I did not know how my sister would make me be.
I fell into Ismene’s hug in the atrium,
‘How could we cope, from now on?’
She was shocked at my hysteria,
‘Tell me what it is that fears you!’
After gasping, sobbing for time now lost, I got it out, in a gasp,
‘Our father is our mother’s son, and they produced us!’
Ismene, in disbelief would not relent,
But I told the story of our decent,
She brought me out from under her cover,
She whispered, ‘we must find our mother.’
I could not believe the horrors the seers had brung,
Mother was in the barn, and she was hung,
From a rafter, with a toppled stool beneath,
Ismene was violently sick, white as a sheet,
‘How are we to tell father?’ I asked, in a daze,
Ismene, on the ground, struck dumb, amazed,
And then father, crying, wandered in,
He saw the body of Jocasta and let out a terrible din,
Ismene and I ran to him,
But he threw us off, in rage and madness,
Collapsed, put his hands to his face and shouted with sadness.
Our crying scarred,
Oedipus the great roared:
‘I see! I see! I see! I see!,
I see my history!
I see that monster I killed outside of the city,
I see that is what I pity,
I see that I am monstrous,
It should have rendered me into dust,
I see Jocasta most pretty,
I knew she should be connected to me,
And I see though I can hardly utter,
My trusted lover was my mother!’
‘I cannot bear to see any longer,
For my stomach feels ripped asunder,
My whole body eats itself,
With what I sense without myself,
It all streams in through my eyes,
I see so much that I despise,
They make me cracked these portals,’
Fingers on eyes Oedipus was awful,
‘What should I do about myself?
I must render myself without myself!’
With a scream Oedipus probed fingers beneath brows,
Ismene and I tried to stop him, but we couldn’t somehow,
He roared as he delved deeper into sockets,
Amid crying and din we rolled and rocked but never stopped it,
And then with an awful sucking sound,
And a scream so loud it seemed to crack all around,
Out shot his eyes onto the floor,
On red cords covered with gore,
My sister and I shot away with a shout,
As Oedipus sat up on his haunches and pulled them out.
* * * *
On the road to somewhere,
Could be anywhere,
I was once,
Princess Antigone,
Now a beggar,
With my blind, hobbling father,
He had to leave Thebes,
For the city’s life to proceed,
I would go with him,
To let him be would be a sin.
‘Why did you leave? Why did you come?’
That was his usual sing-song,
‘I can manage with just me,
I can survive without the need to see.’
‘Yes father’ I would say,
He would carry on with something un-succinct,
‘I can do things by pure instinct,
That monster I killed on the plains,
Could have done it with my eyes closed,
Would have halved the pain.’
‘You might have stayed at the city,
With your family,
Your caring sister, your brother kings,
Why waste your life with this thing?’
‘Yes father’ I would say,
I would say: ‘You should have a little pray,
While I try to get some bread from these strangers,
They’ll assume that you are wise and not outrageous,’
‘Assume!’ he’d reply, ‘I’m wise and still dangerous!’
‘I see that monster,’ he’d say later on,
‘It has not really gone,
Perhaps it was me,
That way it becomes easier to see,
It was an ugly creature stalking men,
An abomination that should not have been,
I thought I killed it but here I am,
I can be dead but still exist, I can,
I fight myself on both sides,
I win and lose when they collide,
It is simpler without everything else,
All this noise and sound is myself.’
‘Where are we?’ asked the beggar Oedipus,
‘We are just coming into Colonus’
‘They say Theseus of Athens is coming to this town,’
Said my blind father with a great frown,
‘I hope you are not asking for his sympathy,’
I replied: ‘he is your friend isn’t he?’
‘He was, but I am a beggar in these brave times,
He is a king and higher than high.’
We were invited into the great hall,
Where king Theseus sat as no-one’s thrall,
‘Oedipus, welcome my friend,
Do not explain, I know some of what happened,
You have come far, and on foot,
It is about time, you again took root.’
My father replied, ‘Thank you my friend for your hospitality,
I cannot stay long, for I have me to be,
You have to be you and she has to be her,
We all have roles that do differ,’
Theseus said most stubbornly,
‘You may reside here, and be yourself, you’ll see,
You are no longer a king but a prince still,
This hall will fit the bill,
I need someone wise to oversee,
The rule of Colonus, and I say you are he.’
So we stayed for a happy time,
As agents for Athens fine,
For a king that killed a Minotaur,
My father and he talked of what they saw,
Ismene came from Thebes,
To report on our brother king Eteocles,
And she stayed to help with father, with me,
Forgiveness we were beginning to see,
He could seek and so could we.
And then one sad day uncle Creon came,
To seize Ismene and me, it was a kind of game,
The two old men argued intensely,
It had been agreed,
My two brothers should share the throne of Thebes,
But Eteocles would not let Polynices succeed,
‘The seer has proclaimed,’ said Creon,
‘That the city will not be taken with Oedipus at home,
And Polynices gathers strength as time passes,
To batter the walls of our home and families,’
‘And the seer says for the great Oedipus time is short,
Do this one last thing great king, it is what you ought,’
My old man shouted: ‘Damn the seers and damn Thebes!
After everything they have done to me!
I am no longer in their power!
My sons may still be cursed, that could be,
But my daughters and I, we are free!’
That night Creon, who I had once thought so kind,
Took my sister and me on the track home, my father to bind.
But on that road,
We met Polynices bold,
He outnumbered Creon’s men,
He proclaimed that his sisters,
Had a place in Colonus,
With our fallen father,
And Creon would have to accept this,
Before things went further.
And with only some fuss,
He took us back to Oedipus.
Theseus greeted us at Colonus,
‘Your father summoned me due to your disappearance,’
He stated, ‘The old king is very unwell,
Whether he will recover from this only time will tell,’
Father was weak but in good spirits to see us,
He attempted to rise for the greetings,
But his surge of strength was fleeting,
And attendants helped him back down to the bed,
He had to do with kisses on the forehead.
‘Polynices,’ said the infirm man,
‘You come here for me to give you a hand,
I am sorry to say that even if I could I would not,
For I am gone from Thebes and that lot,
Thebes has gone from me too,
What you do is up to you,
I am not even me, for that I need that old city,
And there I will not go,
I’ve got a shell that seldom fits me,
And at the centre of me there is just a hole,
Will I be myself in Elysium?
I will tell you when you get there, son,
But do not hurry to my side,
Take care of my brave daughters who will never hide,
Try and find some men to make them brides,
Lie if you have to about their father,
Better happiness than honour.’
* * * *
I sit in my tomb, all alone,
Trying not to imagine the reaction of cousin Haemon,
If I were to use this rope,
That has been provided for a less hard way out,
The gods have told me that he is on his way,
But my stomach is craving, day by day,
King Creon put me here for the burial of Polynices,
And I care not, I serve humanity in all crises,
Please Haemon, if you are coming, come,
For my mind fragments here all alone.
On the death of our father, and his humanity,
Polynices took us to his camp, outside of Thebes,
He had gathered six other great war lords,
But wise Amphiaraus felt this was not the will of the gods,
However he fought beside my brave brother,
Against the seven loyal to my other,
It was seven against seven each at a gate,
For king Eteocles was equal in his hate,
My brother Eteocles had broken the pact,
That the throne would alternate yearly, so that they both could act.
Amphiaraus alone, survived the battle,
Both my brothers are dead, the gods do baffle,
Thebes is in the hands of king Creon,
And his justice is not swift, and cannot run,
For the king buried Eteocles with all due dignity,
But left Polynices to the carrion, for he attacked the city,
I could not live with this lack of equity,
Both deserved as my parents, an end peaceably,
With the gods eternally,
For if anyone is at fault it is divinity.
Truly, instinct pours through men and women,
We dress it as good, evil or love of kin,
We are the human animals, not divine,
We mistake the gods for us, but we live in time,
The cosmos does not, for it includes the hours,
The instinct for survival, that is ours,
As it is with every living thing,
Some times are difficult and you cannot sing,
The miracle of everything.
So I went out on the plains, during the night,
To give my brother Polynices the rites,
Creon had declared his policy,
As a law for the city’s stability,
I knew my action was a danger great,
For even Ismene would not co-operate,
But I had to do it anyway,
I feel my own right, I cannot let others sway,
My feeling in these matters,
Now all in tatters.
But the next night the wind rose,
And I heard that the body had become exposed,
I rushed out again to make things right,
The following night,
Too late I realised this was a trap,
King Creon was on the attack,
The wind had not uncovered the body to let it moulder,
It was men under Creon’s order,
And they were waiting as I did the rites again in the night,
They surrounded me, I could not run or fight.
And so here I am in this tomb,
I think the darkness shifts in the room,
That no longer scares me and nor does death,
The only certainty is pain and breath,
Breathing will not long maintain the pain,
And I cannot bare the hurt in heart, stomach and brain,
So I must make use of the rope,
Haemon is a small hope, his father is so overbearing,
And my cousin, my love, such a gentle thing!
I prepare my mortal body to leave,
Goodbye suffering! Goodbye Thebes!
I am a princess, I live in Thebes,
Although royal, not perfect me,
My father and mother rule the place,
From our magnificent palace,
My father is wise, my mother is fair,
My sister and my brothers, we all live here,
I think I know where I come from,
I am princess Antigone.
Oedipus, swollen footed, my great pa,
Came from a city, afar,
He slew a beast that terrorized everything,
And married my mother and became king,
My lovely mother Jocasta,
Had been married to the previous master,
But he’d been slain by murder and fear,
Father saved our city before I was ever here!
After my short life of happiness,
Which could have never continued the same, I guess,
Thebes has been struck by pestilence and dearth,
The people beg the limping king to unearth,
Some great wisdom from the gods,
How do we lift this curse, with which we are at odds?
My father has sent uncle Creon to the Delphi seer,
He will return to make things clear.
A meeting has been called! Creon has returned!
We sit nervously and listen to all he has learned,
Creon opens up before the assembly,
‘This is what the seer of Delphi sees:
Our old king Laius was taken by an evil deed,
And the killer lives here in Thebes!
We live under a curse, that the gods said we deserved,
And so things will stay until justice is served!’
Looking troubled my father Oedipus,
Proclaimed, ‘I shall look into this,
Let a man who served that king be brought,
We need a witness, let him be sought,’
And eventually, an old soldier stood before the assembly,
‘I witnessed the death of king Laius’ said he,
‘We were on the road to Corinth from here,
In the royal chariot, when we came near,
A stranger who stood in the road,
And he would not move, he was too bold,
Laius gave him orders to move off,
But at this the stranger did scoff,
Laius got out of the chariot and a fight did proceed,
Our old king lost, I admit, I was frightened and I did flee.’
King Oedipus was grim and let it show,
‘Tell us anything else you know,’
The old soldier spoke low,
‘The whole thing had a strange run,
For the oracle said that Laius would be killed by his son,
And as all can see and is plainly shown,
That king had no son, that is known,’
My father looked ill at ease,
He dismissed everyone, apart from mother and me.
‘I have something very grave to discuss,
I may have made a great mistake that concerns all of us.’
‘I was a prince of Corinth and had everything one could need,
To live a happy life, to let good proceed,
But one day in my youth, at a feast,
I was told by a stranger, that I was the beast,
For the seer at Delphi had made a sight,
That I would kill my father, take my mother as wife,
I was sick with agony, and left those I adored,
To avoid a horrible fate, that since then I have ignored,
I met men on the road, and things did turn out,
Just the way that soldier talked about.’
My mother Jocasta let out a cry,
‘This horror will not end, for I will not lie!
I did bear a son by Laius, in secret,
Due to the prophecy, the king had him nailed through the feet,
And we left the poor infant on a mountain,
But he must have been found and saved, I am now certain’
Father looked shocked at his own deformed foot,
Mother shivered, cried and shook,
I was too amazed to think,
That I was a product of this thing,
Oedipus let out a mighty moan,
Jocasta fled from the room,
I ran out to find the arms of Ismene,
Although I did not know how my sister would make me be.
I fell into Ismene’s hug in the atrium,
‘How could we cope, from now on?’
She was shocked at my hysteria,
‘Tell me what it is that fears you!’
After gasping, sobbing for time now lost, I got it out, in a gasp,
‘Our father is our mother’s son, and they produced us!’
Ismene, in disbelief would not relent,
But I told the story of our decent,
She brought me out from under her cover,
She whispered, ‘we must find our mother.’
I could not believe the horrors the seers had brung,
Mother was in the barn, and she was hung,
From a rafter, with a toppled stool beneath,
Ismene was violently sick, white as a sheet,
‘How are we to tell father?’ I asked, in a daze,
Ismene, on the ground, struck dumb, amazed,
And then father, crying, wandered in,
He saw the body of Jocasta and let out a terrible din,
Ismene and I ran to him,
But he threw us off, in rage and madness,
Collapsed, put his hands to his face and shouted with sadness.
Our crying scarred,
Oedipus the great roared:
‘I see! I see! I see! I see!,
I see my history!
I see that monster I killed outside of the city,
I see that is what I pity,
I see that I am monstrous,
It should have rendered me into dust,
I see Jocasta most pretty,
I knew she should be connected to me,
And I see though I can hardly utter,
My trusted lover was my mother!’
‘I cannot bear to see any longer,
For my stomach feels ripped asunder,
My whole body eats itself,
With what I sense without myself,
It all streams in through my eyes,
I see so much that I despise,
They make me cracked these portals,’
Fingers on eyes Oedipus was awful,
‘What should I do about myself?
I must render myself without myself!’
With a scream Oedipus probed fingers beneath brows,
Ismene and I tried to stop him, but we couldn’t somehow,
He roared as he delved deeper into sockets,
Amid crying and din we rolled and rocked but never stopped it,
And then with an awful sucking sound,
And a scream so loud it seemed to crack all around,
Out shot his eyes onto the floor,
On red cords covered with gore,
My sister and I shot away with a shout,
As Oedipus sat up on his haunches and pulled them out.
* * * *
On the road to somewhere,
Could be anywhere,
I was once,
Princess Antigone,
Now a beggar,
With my blind, hobbling father,
He had to leave Thebes,
For the city’s life to proceed,
I would go with him,
To let him be would be a sin.
‘Why did you leave? Why did you come?’
That was his usual sing-song,
‘I can manage with just me,
I can survive without the need to see.’
‘Yes father’ I would say,
He would carry on with something un-succinct,
‘I can do things by pure instinct,
That monster I killed on the plains,
Could have done it with my eyes closed,
Would have halved the pain.’
‘You might have stayed at the city,
With your family,
Your caring sister, your brother kings,
Why waste your life with this thing?’
‘Yes father’ I would say,
I would say: ‘You should have a little pray,
While I try to get some bread from these strangers,
They’ll assume that you are wise and not outrageous,’
‘Assume!’ he’d reply, ‘I’m wise and still dangerous!’
‘I see that monster,’ he’d say later on,
‘It has not really gone,
Perhaps it was me,
That way it becomes easier to see,
It was an ugly creature stalking men,
An abomination that should not have been,
I thought I killed it but here I am,
I can be dead but still exist, I can,
I fight myself on both sides,
I win and lose when they collide,
It is simpler without everything else,
All this noise and sound is myself.’
‘Where are we?’ asked the beggar Oedipus,
‘We are just coming into Colonus’
‘They say Theseus of Athens is coming to this town,’
Said my blind father with a great frown,
‘I hope you are not asking for his sympathy,’
I replied: ‘he is your friend isn’t he?’
‘He was, but I am a beggar in these brave times,
He is a king and higher than high.’
We were invited into the great hall,
Where king Theseus sat as no-one’s thrall,
‘Oedipus, welcome my friend,
Do not explain, I know some of what happened,
You have come far, and on foot,
It is about time, you again took root.’
My father replied, ‘Thank you my friend for your hospitality,
I cannot stay long, for I have me to be,
You have to be you and she has to be her,
We all have roles that do differ,’
Theseus said most stubbornly,
‘You may reside here, and be yourself, you’ll see,
You are no longer a king but a prince still,
This hall will fit the bill,
I need someone wise to oversee,
The rule of Colonus, and I say you are he.’
So we stayed for a happy time,
As agents for Athens fine,
For a king that killed a Minotaur,
My father and he talked of what they saw,
Ismene came from Thebes,
To report on our brother king Eteocles,
And she stayed to help with father, with me,
Forgiveness we were beginning to see,
He could seek and so could we.
And then one sad day uncle Creon came,
To seize Ismene and me, it was a kind of game,
The two old men argued intensely,
It had been agreed,
My two brothers should share the throne of Thebes,
But Eteocles would not let Polynices succeed,
‘The seer has proclaimed,’ said Creon,
‘That the city will not be taken with Oedipus at home,
And Polynices gathers strength as time passes,
To batter the walls of our home and families,’
‘And the seer says for the great Oedipus time is short,
Do this one last thing great king, it is what you ought,’
My old man shouted: ‘Damn the seers and damn Thebes!
After everything they have done to me!
I am no longer in their power!
My sons may still be cursed, that could be,
But my daughters and I, we are free!’
That night Creon, who I had once thought so kind,
Took my sister and me on the track home, my father to bind.
But on that road,
We met Polynices bold,
He outnumbered Creon’s men,
He proclaimed that his sisters,
Had a place in Colonus,
With our fallen father,
And Creon would have to accept this,
Before things went further.
And with only some fuss,
He took us back to Oedipus.
Theseus greeted us at Colonus,
‘Your father summoned me due to your disappearance,’
He stated, ‘The old king is very unwell,
Whether he will recover from this only time will tell,’
Father was weak but in good spirits to see us,
He attempted to rise for the greetings,
But his surge of strength was fleeting,
And attendants helped him back down to the bed,
He had to do with kisses on the forehead.
‘Polynices,’ said the infirm man,
‘You come here for me to give you a hand,
I am sorry to say that even if I could I would not,
For I am gone from Thebes and that lot,
Thebes has gone from me too,
What you do is up to you,
I am not even me, for that I need that old city,
And there I will not go,
I’ve got a shell that seldom fits me,
And at the centre of me there is just a hole,
Will I be myself in Elysium?
I will tell you when you get there, son,
But do not hurry to my side,
Take care of my brave daughters who will never hide,
Try and find some men to make them brides,
Lie if you have to about their father,
Better happiness than honour.’
* * * *
I sit in my tomb, all alone,
Trying not to imagine the reaction of cousin Haemon,
If I were to use this rope,
That has been provided for a less hard way out,
The gods have told me that he is on his way,
But my stomach is craving, day by day,
King Creon put me here for the burial of Polynices,
And I care not, I serve humanity in all crises,
Please Haemon, if you are coming, come,
For my mind fragments here all alone.
On the death of our father, and his humanity,
Polynices took us to his camp, outside of Thebes,
He had gathered six other great war lords,
But wise Amphiaraus felt this was not the will of the gods,
However he fought beside my brave brother,
Against the seven loyal to my other,
It was seven against seven each at a gate,
For king Eteocles was equal in his hate,
My brother Eteocles had broken the pact,
That the throne would alternate yearly, so that they both could act.
Amphiaraus alone, survived the battle,
Both my brothers are dead, the gods do baffle,
Thebes is in the hands of king Creon,
And his justice is not swift, and cannot run,
For the king buried Eteocles with all due dignity,
But left Polynices to the carrion, for he attacked the city,
I could not live with this lack of equity,
Both deserved as my parents, an end peaceably,
With the gods eternally,
For if anyone is at fault it is divinity.
Truly, instinct pours through men and women,
We dress it as good, evil or love of kin,
We are the human animals, not divine,
We mistake the gods for us, but we live in time,
The cosmos does not, for it includes the hours,
The instinct for survival, that is ours,
As it is with every living thing,
Some times are difficult and you cannot sing,
The miracle of everything.
So I went out on the plains, during the night,
To give my brother Polynices the rites,
Creon had declared his policy,
As a law for the city’s stability,
I knew my action was a danger great,
For even Ismene would not co-operate,
But I had to do it anyway,
I feel my own right, I cannot let others sway,
My feeling in these matters,
Now all in tatters.
But the next night the wind rose,
And I heard that the body had become exposed,
I rushed out again to make things right,
The following night,
Too late I realised this was a trap,
King Creon was on the attack,
The wind had not uncovered the body to let it moulder,
It was men under Creon’s order,
And they were waiting as I did the rites again in the night,
They surrounded me, I could not run or fight.
And so here I am in this tomb,
I think the darkness shifts in the room,
That no longer scares me and nor does death,
The only certainty is pain and breath,
Breathing will not long maintain the pain,
And I cannot bare the hurt in heart, stomach and brain,
So I must make use of the rope,
Haemon is a small hope, his father is so overbearing,
And my cousin, my love, such a gentle thing!
I prepare my mortal body to leave,
Goodbye suffering! Goodbye Thebes!
