THE DARK POOL #poetrymonth #napomo #napowrimo #mythopo

Carvaggio's "Narcissus" 

THE MOMENT ONE SEES THE DARK POOL 
There is another story about Narcissus, less popular indeed than the other, but not without some support. It is said that Narcissus had a twin sister... ~Paus. 9.31-8

What is it like, that likeness in the like of which it imitates in you? ~stephanie pope, Like A Woman Falling, p.46

Let nothing
represence ‘we’
understanding even

the oddness of “it” is
how super egoic things
operate in the spirit of times;

always shape an eye
for an “I” to embody
one’s own sensual soul’s

senses of being
in nonbeing
a soul-making

©2016 The WaterMaiden stephaniepope mythopoetry.com

notes

For The archetypal image of the watermaiden in Greek myth. See Perseus, Tufts: Paus. 9.31 7-9

[7] On the summit of Helicon is a small river called the Lamus.2 In the territory of the Thespians is a place called Donacon （Reed-bed）. Here is the spring of Narcissus. They say that Narcissus looked into this water, and not understanding that he saw his own reflection, unconsciously fell in love with himself, and died of love at the spring. But it is utter stupidity to imagine that a man old enough to fall in love was incapable of distinguishing a man from a man's reflection.

[8] There is another story about Narcissus, less popular indeed than the other, but not without some support. It is said that Narcissus had a twin sister; they were exactly alike in appearance, their hair was the same, they wore similar clothes, and went hunting together. The story goes on that Narcissus fell in love with his sister, and when the girl died, would go to the spring, knowing that it was his reflection that he saw, but in spite of this knowledge finding some relief for his love in imagining that he saw, not his own reflection, but the likeness of his sister.

[9] The flower narcissus grew, in my opinion, before this, if we are to judge by the verses of Pamphos. This poet was born many years before Narcissus the Thespian, and he says that the Maid, the daughter of Demeter, was carried off when she was playing and gathering flowers, and that the flowers by which she was deceived into being carried off were not violets, but the narcissus.