Image: Eurynome Dances acquired from Post Modern Psychedelia

Darling, We'll Always Remember Your Act At The Cosmos



In the beginning, Eurynome, the Goddess of All Things, rose naked from Chaos, but found nothing to rest her feet upon. Therefore, she divided the sea from the sky and danced upon its waves. As she danced toward the south, she set a wind in motion behind her. Turning, she caught the North Wind by surprise and changed into the serpent Ophion. Eurynome danced more and more wildly until Ophion grew lustful, coiled himself around her and coupled with her, getting her with child.

Later, she took the shape of a dove, nested on the waves and eventually laid the Universal Egg. Ophion then coiled seven times around the egg until it hatched. Out tumbled all things that now exist which were her children: sun, moon, planets, stars, the earth with its mountains and rivers, trees, herbs and all its living creatures.

Eurynome and Ophion made their home on Mt. Olympus where he vexed her by claiming to be the author of the Universe since it hatched from the Universal Egg. In a fit of rage, she bruised his head with her heel, kicked out his teeth and banished him to the dark caves of the earth.

[ Reading Grave's The Greek Myths, it struck me that this preHellenic creation myth might bear some modern revision. If creation can be a form of entertainment, then old Eurynome put on the best show in the firmament--with a star-studded cast. I thought she needed a good review from her audience--all of us--to match her theatrical personality.]

Darling We'll Always Remember Your Act At The Cosmos

Eurynome, where've you been?
It seems ages since we saw you last.
We all remember that great trick of yours,
In that dark theater,
When the curtains opened
And you suddenly were dancing on water inder a blue sky.
A solo act, and in the buff at that!
How did you ever pull that scene off?
And then you skipped southward on top of the water,
Leaving that North Wind in your wake.
What talent! What ingenuity!
How you ever managed to spin around
And grab that gushing stream of air
We'll never know.
And then rubbing it between your hands,
And before our very eyes, presto, a snake!
Well, we just couldn't believe what we saw.
The finale was really a show stopper, though.
Faster and faster you danced to keep warm.
(It must have been cold up there without clothes.)
And then the snake, turned on by all that bouncing flesh,
Slithers up to you and coils himself around your arms and thighs,
And you moan, and he hisses,
And it's all over
Right there on the stage!
Talk about your erotic scenes,
We thought that one took the cake.
We heard that years later
You were doing another big trick
With that slippery partner of yours.
But that's another story, I guess.
We'd like to hear all about it someday,
About the dove and that huge egg.
They say that it was the greatest act in the Universe.
Nice seeing you again, sweetheart.
Give our warmest regards to that large family of yours.
We'd be lost without them.
And tell your slick companion
That he gets credit for hatching the big egg.
We wouldn't want you two to fight over top billing.
Let your agents do that!
If we ever get the time
We'll visit you at your mountain home.
In the meantime, enjoy the show.
Keep making moonlight,
And don't get caught with your back to the North Wind.