A HEROIC GALLEGGIANTE

From Paradise to Paradise — Part 2

An army of lovers

The once-peaceful hills of Chaeronea¹ strewn with the corpses of those brave brothers the fierce and vanquished Sacred Band of Thebes three-hundred strong — an army of lovers.

Perched on his steed, a teen hero hovers as the bodies burn in pairwise embrace. None fight harder than an army of lovers his father exclaims with tears on his face.

Settle down, my son, let peace find you here learn a lesson from this army of lovers. But we march t’ward paradise, Father dear to bring Elysium to all who suffer.

Those sad, brave men, that army of lovers neither did nor suffered here unseemly each of them died to protect the other not false ideals of grandiosity.

An 18-year-old Alexander commanded his first important battle at ¹Chaeronea in 338 BCE. There he met an elite Athenian force called The Sacred Band of Thebes or The Army of Lovers. These were exactly 150 hand-picked fighters, each paired with the one man he loved most in the world. After watching his son utterly decimate this proud army, his father, King Philip II, reportedly wept over their bodies and said,

Perish any man who suspects that these men either did or suffered anything unseemly.

Stay tuned for the next in the Elysian series : From Paradise to Paradise — Part 2

Coincidentally, June is pride month, and there are many celebrations here in Vienna.

A galleggiante is a poetry form with four 4-line stanzas using an abab rhyming scheme. One line in each stanza is a partially-repeating refrain that either begins at the top and falls to the bottom (a “sinker”) or vice versa (a “floater”). The word galleggiante means “floating” in Italian.

Thanks to Paper Poetry for inviting me to write this poetry series with the theme Elysian, meaning beautiful or creative; divinely inspired; peaceful and perfect. The ancient Greeks believed a perfect, peaceful place called the Elysian Plains, or Elysium, would be the final resting place for the souls of the heroic and the virtuous.

Jim Dutton © 2022

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PS: Editorial Note : Paper poetry conducts themed poetry series every month. This month’s theme is of Greek origin, Elysian: If you want to be a part of this, kindly read this.