Saturday, February 27, 2010

Prometheus

This is one of my experiments in writing something poetic in English. Please do not forget that I am not a native speaker of English. I know that some things in the poem below are grammatically incorrect, though there is such a thing as poetic license.

I was deceived
And mind-controlled
And suffered much in cult.

It wasn't in vain.
There was some gain
And something that I learned.

I was in cult
And since I left.
And I recovered by myself.

I want to help
To those in need
And show them way and light.

I want to help
Them to be free.
I want to give them warmth.

I want to help
And give them fire
And be like Prometheus.

Like him who brought
The fire to men
To give them light and warmth.

And he released
The human race
From pow'r of god of fire.

He suff'red for help
To those in need.
His acts're inspiring me.


Comments:
1. In this poem, I followed the Chechen myth about Prometheus rather than the Greek one, though I decided not to put this explanation into the text of the poem in order not to confuse the readers and not to distract them from the main thought. The information regarding the Chechen myth about Prometheus (Pkharmat) can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pkharmat
http://borzlemanal.blogspot.com/2008/12/chechen-myth-about-prometheus.html
http://borzlemanal.blogspot.com/2010/02/pkharmat-chechen-prometheus.html
http://borzlemanal.blogspot.com/2010/11/pkhari-another-version-of-myth-about.html
http://borzlemanal.blogspot.com/2010/03/myths-about-prometheus-and-pkharmat.html
Many other Caucasian nations have their versions of myths about Prometheus, though they are not so similar to the Greek myth. For example, Circassians have myths about Sosruko and about Nasren and Bataraz:
http://borzlemanal.blogspot.com/2010/03/sosruko-circassian-myth.html
http://borzlemanal.blogspot.com/2010/03/nasren-and-bataraz-chircassian-myth.html

2. I often considered Prometheus and, especially, his Chechen counterpart Pkharmat as a suitable symbol for anti-cult activism for me. I see many parallels here. His intention was to help people. He brought fire to people in order to give light to those who were in darkness and warmth to those who suffered from cold. Also, fire that he brought made people independent and free from god of fire. He suffered for people in order to help them. I think that my cult and post-cult experience, including the sufferings that I had in cult, helped me to better understand people who have similar situations and made me willing and more capable to help them. In a sense, people who are or were in cults need fire and the things related to it, that is, light, warmth, and freedom.

3. I put "god of fire" instead of "Zeus" in stanza 8 intentionally. In the Greek pantheon, Zeus was the highest god and I am not sure that Prometheus really released people from his power. In the Chechen pantheon, god of fire whose name was Sela was not the highest god. He was only god of fire, and Pkharmat really made people independent from him when he brought them fire. In a sense, Sela can be compared to a cult leader. This is why I used this detail in the poem.