Leda and the Swan *

Once out of His amorous pursuit
How on the banks of Eurota
Zeus taking the guise sweet
Of the Swan , Leda , He approached;

It had been a beauty of a day
And Eurota had the sparkling waves
In  her how Jupiter after having a soothing bath
Whence was just about to emerge,
(Naked like a child after rains,
Pure and white with a serene sense)
Leda He saw with eyes newly ope'd,
He had never seen such a beauty true
So decked with golden hue
That from Him spread far and wide,
Leda He saw resting there quite,
Zeus thence thought of going away
But there came urchins three,
Cupid and his friends filled with glee,
Cupid started playing his lyre
And flutes the other two,
How the amoretti touched both,
Giove and Leda;

Seeing Zeus so magnificent and gay
Thought Leda why couldn't she
Have a conservation with Him,
Afterall who doesn't know
What might the God upon lesser things bestow;

So Leda lied down, by the river
Striking a pose,
How there the daughter of Aetolia the King
Got struck by Cupid's musical dose,
Zeus also had that feel perchance
To implant Leda with the formidable sense
He wanted to perhaps get near her
And understand what could fail to bar
The spring of knowledge that flows
From His omniscient Mind,
But how come He plant it True
Into Leda His amorous mind?
How come He plant it True
Into Leda the knowledge that binds?

Then He turned his Self into a Swan
And seeing his beautiful feathers
Glistening in the morning's light
Leda couldn't stop herself from
Hailing Zeus,
How she Jupiter by her side beckoned,
And Zeus gave Leda the thoughts of Life
How to bear all the pains and strife,
How to make out where Love turns to lust
How mortality turns just to dust,

Thus  mere ' Amori di Giove'
How here I turn to a story
But then the story takes me to
More wonders of art to view,
Michelangelo and Corregio
How both of them I find sure
Both of them being so infused
How found  Leda with the Zeus,
And the more I look into their works
The more I get that feeling of fire, those sparks
Which turn a poet or a writer to go
Discovering what painted forms
to the world aptly show,
They all bring into fore stories, myths and tales
They all carry curious divine sense
And how I so taking the road in search
With more of words pure just emerge,
How my pen finds that flowing ink
How in writings more with my mind and soul I sink.

{* note: Leda and Swan had been one of the most celebrated themes of 16 th Century paintings. The poem depicts a story which is purely my own fabrication.
Michelangelo and Corregio both worked on Leda and Swan myth in their own ways. It is believed that Michelangelo painting ( probably in 1512) inspired Antonio Allegri da Corregio to draw a series ( in 1530/32). The painting attached for illustrative purpose was done by Michelangelo.}