Miletus

As the tyrant looked towards the sea,
It came to him, Epiphany!
He’d trust in fate and take a chance
For don’t the gods rule circumstance,
And bless bold men with glory?

Yon water-sprite fed his resolve
It danced upon the surface bold
A free being - a reminder of the yoke
The Persians’d placed about his throat,
A subtle stranglehold

A forum called, the people came
To hear what thing he would proclaim
He roused their passions fluently
With a brilliant spell of oratory
Rebellious attitudes inflamed

“Men - look to Ares, God of War
Weak hearts and minds he does deplore
We are made by the path we choose
Be strong, Miletus cannot lose
Our freedom is assured!”

Of fifty score grouped there all told
Just one poor voice urged them to hold
As rash words flowed, so rose his dread
Hec’taeus rose to cool their heads
And sanity uphold

Parched he was, paper-pale and thin
Old bones pressed starkly through his skin
But when he spoke a power came
A youthful vigour rose again
His voice cut through the din:

“Think, you men! Act not as sheep
Nie but fools choose war from peace
Force hath no place where there’s need of skill
Tact avoids the need to kill
Don’t risk the fate of Greece!”

But hubris filled the mob with nerve
Would they hold back and just observe?
No fear! Their pride left little choice
Light heads and hearts gave single voice:
Give the Medes what they deserve!

With a show of hands their fate was sealed
The men would gather spear and shield
They’d bring in allies near and far
From Corinth, Samos, Attica
The Greeks would never yield!

Great Athens’ fleet would sail as one
And join with the Ionians
United past the Eastern isles
They marched together fifty miles
Broad backs to setting sun

Sardis-town lay at the base,
Of a sleeping god, as if embraced
By a rocky hand three miles wide
Tmolus lying on his side
Deep shadows ‘cross his face

They floated up as if a mist
If a soul looked up, none did exist
Except in fleeting glimpses quickly spent
‘Twas if Hermes himself did circumvent
Ken of strangers in their midst

Huddled close in the predawn light
The Greeks prepared to take the fight
To the Great King’s army down below
Spear and shield bumped to and fro
In twitching knuckles white

Some emptied mind and stood there numb
Some dreamed of wives and child to come
Some thought of naught but the task at hand-
To spill Persian blood upon the land
Like bad wine left in the sun

At length word came and over crest
Marched rank on rank of Helen’s best
The hoplites dashed down the valley floor
They quickened pace with a mighty roar
Thumping hearts in every chest

They caught the Persians unaware
Their deadly bronze flashed here and there
A metronome of block and thrust
As blood was spilt, it fuelled their lust
“See us, oh Mede, Despair!”

Then suddenly the deed was done
Unblinking eyes met rising sun
Upon the town fell a painful hush
The Persian force so feared was crushed
Greek freedom had been won!

But although that morning Sardis fell
Not all was done or right or well
For a Persian force slipped out the back
And made their way up mountain track
For the safety of the citadel

And there sent message to their King:
The Lie hath led the Greeks to sin!
Ahura Mazda - make things right
Men of Persia - prepare to fight
And with you vengeance bring

The Great King burned with violent rage
Revenge avowed through war he’d wage
His fiery eyes, his blazing hair
And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
Holy spirits he’s engaged:

“All thou hordes of Ahura Mazda’s light,
Bearing spear of havock for the Lie to fight
With the straight spears, with the spears uplifted
With the long spears, with the spears He gifted
Recite thou His name every day and night”

Six hundred ships would lead the thrust
The Persian navy ordered thus:
“Its time these Greeks were brought in tow
For God and King go strike a blow
Grind Miletus into dust!”

Salt-crusted chains were shone and hone
The mass of masts, a forest of bones
From Sidon and Tyre the great skiffs leapt
And sped ‘gainst the same winds that kept
Ulysses far from home

They sailed with setting sun in sight
Pushing off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; their purpose held
To conquer Greece and half the world
Providence gave them the right

They arrived at Lade; to set the scene:
Here shore, there Mede and in between
The allied force, drawn arrow tight
They’d die before they’d quit the fight
Those lords of the Trireme

With eyes ablaze and hackles raised
The Greeks drew on Poseidon’s rage
They’d push those heathens out to sea
They’d make them turn their tails and flee
And chase them from the stage

But before the corporal war was waged
Old gods and new were first engaged
In a clash of elements, foul and long
Wherein denizens of the pantheon
Fought ‘gainst a Persian god enraged

Fie! Suddenly the wind dropped low
A ghostly fog rose from below
Then up above a chilling dread
Fell on their hearts, upon their heads
A misty, hellish glow

Both friend and foe slipped fast from sight,
The grey haze shone with eerie light,
Pitched waves of dread about them cast
The rolling ocean deep and vast,
Seemed endless in the night

The Samos ships were first to flee
And take their leave of sanity
A mix of fear and Persian gold
Swayed good men and fair to fold
And leave kinsmen out to sea

As the pliant boats from Samos fled
A deviled panic quickly spread
The Greek gods too were beaten back
By the Persian god’s intense attack
And took flight in fear and dread

Betrayed by kin and left by Zeus
The frantic Greeks would buy a truce
But the Persians bayed for blood not gold
Naught on earth would make them hold
From blind pillage most obtuse:

“O Ahura Mazda, bring forth your fire
That we may purge the land of Lie and liar
Zoroaster laid the path of Truth
All-happy, may we die in youth
For the glory of the empire!”

The Greek Triremes were rent apart
Like diaphane in a tempest’s path
The enemy then put foot to ground
They set about to sack the town
And enact the Great King’s wrath

So horrid ‘twas, that time did slow
Caught frame by frame and blow by blow
The cloying smoke, the women’s screams
Made the very air seem thick, as in a dream,
A nightmare scene of woe

Women, children, led on the fleet
Their men relieved of hands and feet
Before they lost their heads as well
Their bodies shattered where they fell
Like some trampled field of wheat

But the darkest deed was left for last
Apollo’s house lay in their path
And when they left, an ugly scar
Replaced the sacred Didyma
Black priest on blackened grass

The whole Greek world would mourn the blow
Of a city-state so great brought low
That tragic scene defined an age
For three score years, a war would wage
And untold misery bestow

Zeus grant protection to those souls
Who had their lives cut short, extol
Their children, family left behind
May water-sprites not cloud their minds
And keep them from their goal