Antinous & Hadrian: 1st and 2nd Meetings: Part One

I have already posted two of the poems from my Antinous & Hadrian cycle. I have recently rewritten this poem, called First and Second Meetings, and here is the first part of the video. These poems first saw the light due to the Ecclesia Antinoi group on Yahoo and first appeared on their webpages. My thanks therefore to them with brotherly salutations.

I.


He stood sucking his thumb, forearm resting
on the shoulder of a friend,
his free hand on his hip half insolent,
nonchalant and in control,
his eyes shining from under luxuriant lashes,
a smile of sorts upon those luscious lips.
Greek marble personified, made flesh,
Castor and Pollux paired, Dioscuri,
children of Zeus and Leda,
both ephebes, and one a living god;
the raised and lowered flame:
his friend the latter
and of a coarse discoloured stone.
But he himself!
I half recoiled; I think I even staggered.
Love at first sight?
Yes, of course it was.

Silence overwhelmed the noisy world.
Incarnation and epiphany.
The line of his jaw, his watching eyes,
his mouth,
the multiplex curves and concaves of his form,
the mellifluous whole chanting the open steppe,
some fierce hard horseman ravishing
the Bithynian genetrix generations before;
whence the line had mellowed, melded, ripened
into this almost perfect sun-warmed form.

I asked his name, hardly remembering my own.
'I am called Antinous,' he said,
his voice high and bright and still unbroken,
broad chest thrust forward,
kilt proudly swinging
as he half turned toward me, as if dancing.

The dowdy friend looked on and sniggered,
a knowing youth no doubt already familiar
with the grubbier aspects of human interaction.
Antinous frowned with displeasure, quite severe.
The lad caught the look of disapprobation,
calloused feet scuffing the dirt in embarrassment,
looking from him to me, the snigger fading.

My bodyguard rode up, breaking the spell
with chinking metal and hoofbeats suddenly stilled.
Both boys watched breathless, nothing now but boys,
the armour and the horses and the weapons
and the big tough men,
Antinous' mouth half open, large and ripe.
Already an aura flickered about his head
with its shining curling heavy mass of hair.



II.


Being busy, I forgot him; or,
I thought I had forgotten him.
But something led me back to the same district -
doubtless, the lure of the god, the elusive
scent of the divine which seems from childhood,
calling from the past, enticing to the future,
compulsive harbinger, trumpeting summons
to fulfil the fated destiny.
My forgetfulness had been itself a sign.

So later, not too later, back I went
with my sweaty unwashed cavalry,
my lumbering, unattractive troops,
drawn by the radiance of divinity,
the sweetness of infinity,
back to my destiny. And there he was,
upon the field of exercise,
naked perfection, glistening with oil,
chanting a Spartan warsong. And his voice!
The song within the song! The shining limbs!
The flying hair! White teeth in the open mouth!
The attitude! Leant forward with his sword in hand,
the imitation shield a disc of painted wood,
ready to repulse the coming foe, all the while
chanting lustily, the one and only...the pure ephebe,
youthful Mars and Apollo in one shape.
My heart, my lungs, my loins were in my throat;
the tears ran down my face.

My entourage was with me. I addressed him,
amazed at my composure (put on like a diadem),
every inch the emperor, apart from the telltale
wetness of my cheeks. Inwardly, on my knees.
I asked him where he had learnt that wonderful song.
He smiled and bowed. 'My master taught it me,
it lifts the spirit and inspires the flesh.'
This in perfect Greek. What other language
should the Godhead speak?
'Come to me later. Teach me the words of the song,'
I commanded. He bowed again, quite unafraid.

The courtiers spoke with him as I passed on,
trembling very slightly, and amazed
at my own perturbation. What was this?

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• antinous
• hadrian
• charles
• bryant
• gay
• poetry
• spoken
• word
• performing
• arts

[bvlgary09]

is this a novel? if so, can you please tell me what the name of this novel is? i really would like to read it on my own. i think it's a masterpiece!

[brychar66]

No it's not a novel just a series of poems I wrote. I'm glad you like them :)

[nicksynnz]

At last the true story of Romeo and his Juliet, in the form of Hadrian and his Antinous. Love IS a spiritual emotion not just sexual.

[brychar66]

I agree with you entirely.

[neserend]

Who is the author of this poem? I´m sad my English is not perfect to understand all.. in german I read some books about Antinous and Hadrian... but I found this site, why I´m fan of poems from Stefan George. I wish I can learn to work with technic sometime to make so nice videos too (in german) - I know many unknown poets in a big collection of books.

[brychar66]

Hi there, I wrote the poem - and I've done some translations from Stefan George here too.

[mavisbrownnose]

apparently there was no word for gay/homosexual in ancient Rome because it was nothing unusual

[KnyazSerafimYusupov]

You, sir, are a master. Such noetic poetry. Although this love is not a love I understand or desire, still, still, in Paradise I would long for it. You, sir, are a master.

[HistoryLover1550]

Daniel Craig's expected to play Hardian in a movie based off Marguerite Yourcenar's novel. Check out my Dream Cast for it, let me know what you think. Thnx!

[algrand90]

lol the poor he got fucked every night

[twinnumber3]

Hi C! I am so pleased to have (re-)discovered this video when searching Ecclesia Antinoi. We have more in common than I realized. Mystical spiritual experiences keep bringing me to Antinous. Best to you, J

[LaraElegy]

You read like an enchanter. And the video seems to be created by an enchanter.

[nicksynnz]

Indeed he is a master Prince..it is admirable that you accept a love you reject, but then accept again. Not a contradiction but the ambivalence of the human condition.