Poem: Mortal/Immortal

Eris, the goddess of discord, enraged at not being invited to a wedding, threw an apple into the gathering bearing the inscription "For the Fairest." The apple was claimed by Venus, Minerva (Greek Athena) and Juno (Greek Hera) wife of Jupiter and queen of heaven (pictured above). Jupiter, not willing to decide such a delicate matter, sent the women to see Paris, the son of Priam, King of Troy. He was asked to make a decision, and he awarded the apple to Venus. Venus had promised Paris the fairest of women for his wife. Under the protection of Venus, Paris sailed to Greece for Helen, wife of Menelaus, King of Sparta. Paris, aided by Venus, persuaded her to elope with him and carried her off to Troy. Her abduction was the cause of the Trojan War. Ulysses, as one of those sworn to defend Helen's honor, left his home to fight in the Trojan War.

MORTAL/IMMORTAL

Looking at constellations way up in the sky
I knew the stars' names but didn't know why
'Til mythology told me what I needed to know
About things that happened so long, long ago
The Pleiades and Orion and Pollux and Castor
Mortals who looked to god Jupiter as master
A god who used his great powers at hand
To elevate mere mortals above life on land
Placed as stars in the heavens for all to see
A mortal life leading to immortality
And even though we still speak a star's name
Jupiter sought for himself no such fame
Though he sat with Juno in Olympus on high
His children numbered more than the stars in           the sky
There was Vulcan by Juno and Apollo by Latona
Bacchus by Semele and Hercules by Alcmena
Plus the Muses and Amphion and Helen it's said
And Minerva who simply sprang from his head
A constellation of children known in their own           right
A more mortal expression of Jupiter's might
For there are few things more human in the           world to see
Than the quest to live on for eternity
In the end it was men who put the god in the sky
A most fitting tribute to a "heavenly" guy
The largest of planets bears Jupiter's name
Which just goes to show you, all things being           the same
That mortal or immortal, it's easy to see
Things haven't changed much throughout           history.