I have recently returned from Greece and thought that today I would go back to that country's mythology with a poem about apples - golden apples that give the gift of immortality.
Heracles (Hercules) for his penultimate task was asked to pluck three golden apples from the tree of the Hesperides, (nymphs of the evening).
Gaia, the earth-mother had given Zeus and Hera golden apples as a wedding gift. Hera planted them in her garden, which was far to the west and close to Mount Atlas.
To guard the apples Hera sent Ladon, an immortal monster with one hundred heads.
Also guarding the tree were the Hesperides, who were the daughters of Nyx and Erebus.
After a long journey Heracles finally found the garden and tricked Atlas into getting the apples for him.
On his return to the court of king Eurystheus, the hero presented the three golden apples to him.
Eurystheus appreciated their beauty but did not know what to do with them and handed them back to Heracles.
Unsure himself as what should be done, Heracles asked for guidance from his constant supporter Athena.
She took them back to the garden of the Hesperides, as the law of the gods commanded that they should remain in the garden.
They are still there!
APPLES OF HESPERIDES
Glinting golden through the trees,
Apples of Hesperides!
Through the moon-pierced warp of night
Shoot pale shafts of yellow light,
Swaying to the kissing breeze
Swings the treasure, golden-gleaming,
Apples of Hesperides!
Far and lofty yet they glimmer,
Apples of Hesperides!
Blinded by their radiant shimmer,
Pushing forward just for these;
Dew-besprinkled, bramble-marred,
Poor duped mortal, travel-scarred,
Always thinking soon to seize
And possess the golden-glistening
Apples of Hesperides!
Orbed, and glittering, and pendent,
Apples of Hesperides!
Not one missing, still transcendent,
Clustering like a swarm of bees.
Yielding to no man's desire,
Glowing with a saffron fire,
Splendid, unassailed, the golden
Apples of Hesperides!
Amy Lowell
Amy Lawrence Lowell (1874-1925) was an American poet of the imagist school from Brookline, Massachusetts who posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1926.
I posted two of her poems to this blog in March 2006 and February 2008.
