Atlantis

"In the deep,
The past sleeps.
If memory stirs,
Then, man must weep.

If memory stirs,
Then, man must weep,
Those towers,
Lost in time."

When sleep breaks,
Dreams can take
Forms that lived
Before the quakes

And, once again,
Those towers will stand,
The mighty spires,
Raised by man.

Proud towers.

Gold, they shone,
Once the home
Of men like we,
Of flesh and bone.

Straining high,
To pierce the sky.
All seemed well,
Yet, they fell.

Men cry:
Women cry,
And shall.
Proud towers
Raised their spires 
and fell.

Fallen gold,
It may be told,
Equally weighed
On young and old;
Equally weighed 
On meek and bold.

Fallen gold.

So, towers fell;
Downward tumbled.
Earth, itself,
Rocked and rumbled,
And, deep into itself,
It crumbled.


So, towers fell;
Men wept,
And gold was hidden
'Neath the depths.

That that was
In silence slept,
'Neath water 
And 'neath mind.

"In the deep,
The past sleeps.
If memory stirs,
Then, man must weep.

If memory stirs,
Then, man must weep,
Those towers,
Lost in time."

Written in the Spring of 1970 by James R. Hoye 

In Ancient Times

In ancient times, when the world was young,
The lands rose up, through the ocean’s waves.
The dragons soared and the storm winds blew, 
and the Gods held sway.

Unicorns were common then,
And mythical beasts were everywhere.
Everything was the stuff of dreams.
There were castles in the air.

Ah, what a time to be living in.

One could race with Mercury,
Or pipe a tune with Pan; 
Roam the Earth with Apollo;
And watch the birth of Man.

Marvel as Titans walked the Earth
And see the Gods battling for power;
Witness the splitting of the Land,
And watch fair Atlantis flower.

Those times are gone, forever, though.
Echoes are all that remain,
And we who live now can but yearn for
What never can be again.

Yet, still we remember their presence;
Still, we may bask in their fire,
For, in truth, they’ve laid down the template
To which we can always aspire,

And, thru us, those days shall live on.

Written the Fall of 2003 by James R. Hoye

Within The Mists

Echoing like some maddening ghost,
The sea bird’s call is rising.

Mist descends,

It’s multi-fingered touch enfolds,
The shadow golden sun,
The winter whitened moon.

Behind that mist,
What moves?
What lies there?

Perhaps, some silent armies clash,
Flashing blades of valiant warriors........
Rent from the past,
Battling courageously,
For honor and their names.

Perhaps some errant hero,
Saves some beauteous maiden,
The gull cry.......a trumpet fanfare
In honor of the deed.

Yea,
Fairy tales live somewhere.

And there lives Troy,
The pageant of that treacherous horse.
There, perhaps grew Rome.......and fell,
Romulus and Remus, Odysseus and Aenaeus;
There Dante’s Paradise And Hell.

Beyond that mist might even lie
The pleasure dome of Xanadu.
The laughing waters of Barsoom,
The minarets of Avalon,
All neath the phases of the moon

Both History and Fantasy lie there
Dream treasures fit for the taking.

But there is more.......much more

Write it all down.
Leave naught behind
This is the world of creative minds.

But beware.......

Time is very precious here,
For this mist is quite ephemeral,
And when it lifts and shows the sun.......
All these visions will be gone,
As if they’d never been....... 

And who knows when they’ll come again.

The gull cry falls one more time,
And all is said and done.......

For now.

Written the Fall of 2003 by James R. Hoye

Dragon Tale

Where, oh where did the dragons go. 
They’ve vanished into the mist.
Despite NO physical evidence.
It’s hard to believe that they didn’t exist

They must have basis in reality,
Despite the lack of bones
They’re almost an ancestral memory. 
Sensed, if not actually known.

It just might be.....It just might be. 

**********

The Chinese Artist and Philosopher, Li-Po,
Was said to be the last who knew 
He captured their very essence, 
In the pictures that he drew.

Pictures that showed them in all of their glory
Fantastical creatures that had stepped from a story
Creatures of strength and magnificent beauty
Creatures with courage and a strong sense of duty.

Some large, some small, 
All of variant hues.
Some bulky, some sinuous,
And all of them flew,
Majestically.

Yes, Virginia, it appears that they were real. 

They say Li Po told this story, 
About their history and fate.
It’s been discovered quite recently,
And this is what it relates....

**********

He said that they, were dinosaurs, 
But of a different order, 
Being to other sauropods
As humans are to apes,

And they lived in the highest mountains, 
In Tibet and similar places
separated from other saurians, 
By miles of airy spaces,
Seldom coming down.

And that explains, at least in part, 
why no remains have e’re been found..

They had both language and culture, 
And more skills then words can tell;
Both learned in the sciences, 
And gifted in the arts, as well.

They were possessed of senses, 
That allowed them to perceive, 
Far beyond what words can say,
Or any eyes could see.

They made even eagles seem near sighted.

That perception and their knowledge
Allowed them to be aware
Of the rock that slew the ‘Saurs,
Long before it struck the Earth,

So they hid in far off caves 
Where water freely flowed 
And food was amply stored there
Against that fatal blow.

This was no great burden to them,
For those caverns were their home,
And sealed, could well protect them,
From all that was to come.

Nor did they forget their kin,
For, two by two, they led them in,
Much like Noah and his Ark,
To give them the chance to start again,

But the ‘Saurs, alas, did not fare well
Within that endless dark,
And when the disturbance subsided,
Their trials had left their mark.

They did not survive.

The dragons, knew that their time was done,
Because their rate of birth
Was far too low to ever let them
Repopulate the Earth,

They dedicated themselves, instead,
To helping emerging hominids,
And, ‘special’ly in those early years,
They were well known to men, 

Giving them fire; 
Teaching them their language. 

But mankind was overawed,
By their size, and mastery of flight,
And the dragons began to realize, 
They were holding the humans back, 

So they withdrew from human contact
Save for Li-Po, who was the last, 
And when he died, they disappeared
Their time was truly past..

**********

Li -Po’s missive ends there, 
But that is not the end.
There have been sightings throughout history,
T’wixt dragons and t’wixt men,

But no evidence of contact.

And, the attitudes of mankind, 
Based on stories told,
Appear to have changed from awe to fear,
As memory grows cold

*********

So where, oh where did the dragons go. 
No one knows......Yet, still there’s a link 

So, never doubt their existence,.
They may be closer than you think 

Written in the Spring of 2004 by James R. Hoye 

Teiresias

Tartarus is not such a bad place to be,
Nothing like the Christian Hell,
Although it has it’s faults as well,
For nothing here brings pleasure
Not sex, nor drink, nor partying.

In short, it’s mostly boring,

And they say the Elysian Fields differ
Only in the capacity for finding enjoyment,
And the fact that they live in light,
While we exist in darkness
And simply go on and on and on,
Existing beyond our allotted time

Still, I am content in my agelessness
And my nature,
For am I not Teiresias?

Who else has felt what I felt?
Who else has known what I have known?
Who else has been both man and woman
And gifted as a seer as well;
Friend to Gods and heroes,
With so many tales to tell?

Born of Everes and the Nymph, Chariclo,
And descended from Udaeus,
An original Sparti,

The second sight came naturally to me
Although it did me little good
As it only worked for others,

(A fact I learned the hard way
While still in my youth),

For when I came across a pair of snakes,
Mating in the road,
And slew the female
Or thought I did.

She turned out to be a minor goddess,
Who took offence, 
Both at the attempted slaying, 
And at the interruption of her mating.

And I was in no sense forewarned.


And I paid a price, 
That was also a boon,
As I was made female myself 
And lived that way for seven years,
Until I crossed their path again,
(For indeed it was the same pair),
And this time I let them be,
And was returned to my male form,

Almost.......

For from that day on, I came to be
Both male and female,
Having the organs and desires of each,
And that became part of my destiny
As well as my legacy,
For I enjoyed both aspects fully
Taking pleasure with both men and women alike,

And that, in turn, led to my blindness,

For I was known to all the Gods,
Both as a seer and for my dual nature,
So when Zeus quarreled with Hera
Over who felt more sexual pleasure,
Man or woman,
They came to me,

And when I told them that a woman’s pleasure
Was nine times that of a man
(Which agreed with Zeus’s point of view)
Hera was enraged and punished me,
Striking me blind,

And Zeus took pity on me,
And gave me the ability
To understand the speech of birds.
And extended my life,
For seven generations
(Beyond that of most mortals),

And allowed me to keep my memory
And my second sight
Even after death,

And I’ve had no regrets.

For the advantages of sight are overblown
When one can hear and sense and feel
From duel perspectives,
And have a mind that sees things clearly,
Without the aid of eyes.

For I have remained a seer,
Despite that physical lack,
And all I’ve lost
Has been paid back in equal kind.

Though prophesy, as I came to see
Was not all it was cracked up to be
For few understood or accepted 
The truths that they were told.

I warned powerful Penteus 
‘Gainst opposing Dionysus,
(For I knew him to be a God),
But he ignored me and was torn apart 
By his mother and his aunts.

And I revealed how Alcmene
Lost her precious virginity
To Zeus who took her husband’s form
And made her pregnant with Heracles.
But neither she nor Amphitryton were pleased
And they banished me.

I, then, revealed to Oedipus,
How he had slain his own father
And committed incest
By marrying his own mother. 
Although he didn’t believe me
And that led to his doom. 

And in the war against Argos,
I told Eteocles and Creon 
That Thebes could only win the war,
By sacrificing Menoeceus , Creon’s son,
To the War God Ares, but they refused,

Still, Menoeceus heard of my prophecy,
And sacrificed himself on Ares’ altar
That Thebes might be saved,
And it was,

Although I had to flee for my life,
But was later forgiven


And in the second war against Argos,
When Thebes fell to the sons
Of seven Argive leaders,
As I foretold it would,
I failed to take my own advice
And died while fleeing the city. 

And even a’er my death,
I gave advice to many,
Including noble Odysseus who Circe sent to me,
That I might make him see
How, in blinding Polyphemus,
He had earned Poseidon’s wrath,

And I warned him of the dangers
That he had yet to face,
Including what would happen,
If he or any of his men,
Ate the cattle of the Sun God Helios,

And that, of course, came to pass,
And only Odysseus survived,
And I’d warned him, likewise, what awaited him at home
And told him of his own death,.
And he’d believed me
And took my advice as best he could,

(One of the few who ever did).


And Odysseus is here with me in Tartarus,
As are most of the heroes of Antiquity,
For the deeds that they were required to do
Barred them from the Elysian Fields,
And I can only guess what deeds banned me,
For all I ever did was tell the truth,

Albeit that that was not always taken well.

And now I wait here endlessly.
Biding my time for eternity,
Hoping that some welcome visitor
Will come and tap my gifts
Just one more time......

Remember me.

Written in Aug 2004 by James R. Hoye

The Other World

Roul El Knor soared majestically,
Far over the sun-gilded plain;
His serpentine body glistening,
As if newly come from the rain;

His powerful wings beating slowly:
His sinuous neck straining high,
As his luminous eyes darted boldly,
Searching for more of his kind,

For this was the new home of dragons.
This was their virgin domain.
This was the land of their destiny,
Where life could start over again,

No longer brothers to Dinosaurs,
No longer the teachers of man;
No longer tied to the tragedy, 
That had ended all of their plans. 

This wasn’t the Earth they’d once known,
The one, now the home of mankind.
This was the Earth of another plane
Where creatures of myth proudly reigned.

Here, Elves and Brownies and Leprechauns,
Here, Banshees and Pookas and Ghosts,
Here, Hobbits and Goblins and Mythical Beasts
That many had thought to be lost, 

Here Chimeras, Centaurs and Unicorns
Here Boggarts and Bugbears and Trolls 
Here Satyrs and Griffins and Minatours
Here Salamanders and Gnomes,

But No Dinosaurs........
Save Dragons the last of their kind.

Chinese Dragons of Wind and Storm,
Oriental Dragons of Earth,
Blue Wyverns and Black Wyrms
Reveling in their rebirth,

But most were Western Dragons 
With massive heads and wings,
Breathing fire or acid or ice,
With treasure troves worthy of kings.

And all got along together,
Both Creatures and Dragons alike,
For there was room for everyone
And they had no need to fight.

For the seas were unpolluted there;.
The mountains in majesty rose
The air was sweet because it was pure,
And the land and sea were bountiful. 

And Mankind was not welcome there,
Although they came in their dreams,
But only to watch and to wonder,
And sometimes relate what they’d seen.

And those dragons and creatures likewise visited Earth
For it was their ancestral home,
Though most of the things that they saw there,
Made them quite glad they were gone.

So does Roul El Knorr still soar there?
Do these creatures yet live on in peace?
Look to your dreams and your fantasies,
And don’t be surprised at what you see. 

They may be surviving better than we.

Written in the Spring of 2004 by James R. Hoye 

Atalan

In the oldest days,
When Powers held sway,
The first of all was Chaos,
And he created Gaia, 
Known as Mother Earth,
And she gave birth to Uranus,
Who was the Heavens,
And to Pontos who was the Sea,
And Uranus became Gaia's consort,
And she gave birth to Chronos, 
The best known of the elder Gods,
As well as Oceanos, the Cyclops, and the Titans, 
And. likewise, a daughter named Rhea.

And, Chronos  slew Uranus,
And took Rhea as his consort,
Who bore the Gods of Greek mythology, 
Including Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Hestia and Pluto,
And Chronos feared the children she bore by him, 
So he swallowed them all one by one,
Save Zeus who she hid from him.
   
And Zeus, in time, brought Chronos down,
and restored his brothers and sisters,.    
And together they divided the realms,
So that, the earth and air were ruled by Zeus,
While Posoiden ruled the seas,
And Pluto ruled the underworld
For all eternity.

And all of these were elemental powers,
Who often took a human form.

And at that time, the land was one,	
And it's name was Panagea
And when the realms were divided,
The land was severed too,
And the Islands of the western seas
Were given to Posoiden to rule,
Along with all the waters of the Earth as well.

And Posoiden looked out on the islands,
That had separated from land,
Composed of three large 

And many smaller land masses,
And he found them fertile
And filled with life,
Including tribes of the race of man,
Who were, at that time, known as Autochthons
A simple race, innocent and unlearned.

So, Poseidon adopted these as his own,
And gave them fire, and gave them tools,
And taught them how to till the fields, 
And showed them how to tame the seas,
In concert with the dolphins,
Their brothers ‘neath the waves,    
So they could harvest the oceans bounty, 
By farming the kelp fields all around them,	
And herding the fish to keep them fed,.
Until he could teach them how to hunt,
And tame the animals of the land,
And build  the dwellings,
That they, in time, would call their own.

And Posoiden took a fancy
To one of these autochthons, 
Named Cleito-2,
And his people made a home for them
On the highest hill on the main island,
Altering its form
By carving 5 circular belts, 
3 of land and 2 of sea around it,
Making it impregnable

And also,  isolating her, 
For he was a jealous God.

And there she bore him ten sons
Who, together, in time, ruled those islands
Which, as a group, were known as  Atalan
Named for Atlas, the first born

And a magnificent city grew
"Round Poisoiden's home,
And that, in turn,
Came to be known
As "Atlantis",

And his people thrived.
They built simple structures
Made of rock and wood
And later, as skills were learned, 
With black, red, and white marble,
(Although the latter were confined
To temples and public buildings).

Their power came from the sea's strong tides,
And  from tapping special crystals,
That they themselves developed
For personal use ,
While Volcanic taps provided both heat and power
On the larger scale,
And together turned Atalan into a paradise.

And the people, themselves, had no money.
For they had no need,
As each gave to the limits of their ability,
And all shared that bounty equally.

In essence everything was free,
Both earned and free.

And there was no taxation,
For their wealth was shared..
Each fared as all fared.

And, in the normal sense,
They had no government,
For Poseidon, 
And later his sons,
Were rulers in name only,
Acting primarily as teachers and guides,
Pointing out things that needed to be done,
And teaching the skills necessary
To achieving those goals.

As tasks arose,
They  faced them hand in hand,
Judging priorities by general need,
And struggling first with those
That most demanded.

And  all lived in peace and harmony.
And prospered there in Atalan.

They invented reading and writing, 
Mathematics, Architecture, 
And all the concepts of human civilization.

And they built great cities,
Filled with skilled craftsmen,
Who wrought in base and precious metals,

And they set up busy markets 
Where countryfolk sold 
The rich and colorful produce 
Of their farms;	

And, they constructed great laboratories, 
And observatories
As well as universities,  libraries, 
And academies for people of all ages,
That showed that Atlalan
was the well-spring of human arts and sciences.

And they were,
At least, in the beginning.
But in time, things changed,
For the sons became more controlling
and pulled the land in many directions,

And some wanted to isolate Atalan,
And go about their own business,
In their own ways,

And they concentrated on 
Building spires and minarets,
And creating roads and viaducts,
Including the mighty canal 
Linking the city to the sea,
That let ships sail 
Right up to the water-circles
and let them pass 
From one water circle to another
Through channels dug between them,

Bounded my massive gates
That allowed that channel
To be blocked off and defended.

And their scientists explored new frontiers
Creating vehicles that floated on air
And those that moved under the seas 

And they mapped the stars
And used them for prophesy,
Through the art they called Astrology

And they made plans to venture into space
And  started using  broadcast power, 
Both for their vehicles,
And for their homes and factories,
That worked in conjunction with
The power crystals that they already had.

And their works were beneficial to all
And well appreciated.

Yet, there were others,
Who wanted to spread their wisdom 
To the rest of the world,
And they built a fleet of ships,
That sailed to many lands,
Acting as industrial missionaries, 
And spreading their knowledge
of Metallurgy, Magnetism,
Astronomy, and Medicine,
As well as  many other arts and sciences,
All over the known world,
Wherever the ships of Atalan could sail. 

And they traveled to Egypt, 
And to the lands 
Of the Mayas and the Aztecs,
Building pyramids 
And other massive works,
And teaching the natives
The skills they needed
To do the same themselves.

And they even journeyed to Athenium,
(Which later came to be know as Greece),
Where they taught their architects
How to construct the Atlantes,
The sculptured figures of males 
Which support the architraves
Of temples and other buildings

And both factions pursued their goals
And tolerated each other's efforts
In relative harmony,

But that changed.
For the kings became still more controlling,
And altered their attitudes
Towards the outside world ,
And came to the conclusion,
That they were no longer satisfied,
With spreading their civilization
Far and Wide,

For they came to feel
That those who benefited
From Atalan's technology
Should also become their subjects,
And pay tribute to them,
As well.

Thus they embarked 
Upon the conquest of the world,. 
And their ships sailed 
To Central and South America, 
Where they overwhelmed the Incas,
And  Aztecs, and Mayas ,
And sent rich booty back to Atalan. 

And they sent another force
to conquer the whole of North Africa
As well as all of Egypt

The problem came
When they decided to attack Athenium,
Only to find it protected
By Zeus himself,

Together with his brothers and sisters,
As well as their offspring

And Zeus raised frightful storms
And wielded mighty lightening strikes
‘gainst the Atalanian fleets
And Pluto, Hera and Demeter 
Held Poseidon  in check
While Athena,  Ares and Apollo
Countered Poseidon's sons,
And the outnumbered Athenians
Finding heart in such defense,
And being dedicated to protecting their lands,
Threw off their attackers, 
And wreaked havoc on their fleet,
Sending them fleeing home in defeat.

And the Atalanians were humiliated,
But they were not humbled,
And they set out to erase their shame,
And, to that end,
They experimented with many things
That might be turned into weapons,
Including powerful explosives,
And deadly beams of light,

And they became  more and more desperate
In their need for revenge,
As time went on,				
And that became their downfall,

Experiments can, perforce, go wrong,
And so it was with Atalan.
Power Crystals, turned to weapons,
Proved far more dangerous than any had dreamed
And vibrations set up by their use
Ran amok through all their crystals,			
Destroying their transportation,
And upsetting their power grid,

And that, in turn, put more demand
On the volcanic taps that they'd long used,
Disturbing the Earth's very core,

And a time came
When the Earth rebelled
At such abuse,

And, then, the earthquakes started
And built upon themselves,
Cascading in a never ending escalation,
Destroying all the land,
And causing it to sink beneath the sea,

And, for days on end,
It seemed the very Cosmos
Would fly apart,
And the oceans became
A torment of monstrous waves
That flooded many lands, 
Becoming the first of  many such
recorded throughout history,

And the sky turned the color of dried blood,
Filled with black turbulent clouds 
Which swept across the world,
Accompanied by a dreadful sound,
such as never had been heard before,

And all the world reverberated
With similar quakes,
And new volcanos were born
All over the Earth,

And when all was done,
Fair Atalan was gone,

Destined to fade into memory,
As have the Gods that gave it birth,

Hail, Atalan.

Written in May 2005 by James R. Hoye