Plato’s Ideal

For Denise/Josh and Rachel/Robert

Modern poetry  modern verse  contemporary poetry  contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem

[Uranus, the god of the heavens, is both father and mother to the goddess Aphrodite in Plato’s Symposium.]

The heights, the highest heavens, they embrace

Much more than comets, moons and suns, the sweep

Of galaxies and constellations.  Trace

The presence of Uranus in their steep

Infinity.  Uranus, blend of male

And female, made the goddess Love, the queen

Of heights and heaven, she of highest scale

Beyond the stars, the goddess of the sheen

On thrusting skin, the shine of sweat, the shine

Of pulsing brightness that the gods desire,

That men and women want, that bright, divine

Impossibility of beauty, nothing higher.

  She came from one both male and female, both

    In one, divinity’s one perfect growth.

by phillipw | Jul 10, 2020 | AP, BI, LO, TR, UR, VE | 2 comments