Pygmalion and Galatea, a lyrical poem - Scene 1

This will be my attempt at writing a quasi-lyric poem about the legend of Pygmalion and Galatea, the theme being the eternal struggle of the mind, the logic that aspires towards perfection and the heart, which does not hold perfection as a condition for love. I have not fully respected the meters of English poetry and the rhyme is not rigid, but I kept it loosely there so that it sounds more musical without constraining the meaning to the form. This is scene one and I will add the other scenes in future posts.

Scene one : Pygmalion at the altar of Venus, the middle of the night.

 Pygmalion :


Tonight I pray to thee Venus

Forgive this sorrowful heart

Who knew no one but Appolo

The giver of reason and of Art

And  of ambitions ever unbound

who  set my spirit on fire

to rise above this finite land

to seek over Mount Olympus

what is beyond the Genius

of both man and immortal god.

And I  set within the marble stone

The music of Appolo’s  lyre

day after day, with this mortal hand

I soared above what  gods aspire

Galatea, the name I carved in words

Unadorned she was, unequal was pure gold

She was my victory, over all you gods

For no god ever made perfect man

Yet that night, perfection was mine to hold !

But where Genius rose ever higher

The void left was filled with desire,

One lonely night not before too long

I sang to her, she offer’d back no song

And where whisper’d tales with tears I told

Her eyes were idle, her palms were cold

Tonight I pray to thee Venus !

Take back all the Genius of my soul

Take back Appolo’s poisoned chalice

Of gods, I no longer wish the role

Breath in her the gift of love and life

That I may find by her, warmth in night

That I  may know how mortal fates unite

Make imperfect this - my perfection

Take  Galatea, my miracle of creation

Give me Galatea the human, the wife !