In the reign of Mithridates Magus
O feared enemy of Rome
Two souls where as one so as not to be alone
Under watch of Mother Laodice
He shared with her his home

Under sword of Pompey fell Mithridates
Though poison passed his lips
Rome was safe again
His hands never parted from her hips
Lucilia held his desires at bay with the same strength

The words of Tacitus record their love
In annals time has kept
Preserved each look and longing touch
For others to regret
The Germania tells the tale

Flames unyielding from a lover’s look
A touch lingers beyond propriety
Strawberries stain the stomach
And Plutarch has many lives
He would live each one with you

Blood on her lips from a lover’s bite
Or maybe Nyx, Goddess of the Night
Weaving in and out of a lover’s embrace
Her primordial aura sates his taste
Like a story from Hesiod’s Theogony

Love’s phylactery weighs me down
Ardent mantle and lofty crown
Warming my body by day
At night crumpled on the ground
In a heap of realization

Night is borne of Chaos
And the tempest holds her soul
He holds her arms apart and there her heart
Bared and in his hold
His desire raises the phoenix from the ashes
As she watches him from half-closed lashes

Aristophanes’ Birds inspire Orphic perambulation
As he moves on a path of satisfaction
Her hands in his as he placates without distraction
Loving her above his nation’s safety
Like Paris did Helen, so long ago

Son of Ares and Aphrodite at their side
Urging culmination in the heavens
Love before lusty abomination
And pageantry in the shadows and whispers
In the room and on the floor

Together as one- Apollo and Daphne
The arrow of lusty fate pierced them both
Killing them as one- a death that was at most
Sanctimonious
A death that was at least
Simultaneous