Cyllenian devil, this Old Father Time,
attacks us remorselessly, stealing our prime;
and when he is done taking minutes hard-earned,
he makes us forget all the life-lessons learned.
True patron of thieves, just like Hermes of old,
he pilfers vitality, makes us grow cold.
If we're on our game, and we think we can win it,
along comes this despot to drop us right in it;
the chance to achieve what we'd hoped slips us by,
it's made more than one person break down and cry;
but I'll beat this clock-watching tyrant, he'll stop—
he loses control on the day that I drop!
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Author Notes
Today's word: cyllenian (adj.) pertaining to theft or thieving.
There were so many candidates vying for this word of the day, but in the end I decided to go for a little black humour which didn't involve any particular person.
A cave on Mount Cyllene is, according to Greek mythology, the birthplace of Hermes, the god of communication and correspondence. Often depicted with winged sandals and helmet, he was possessed of great speed, and this fleetness of foot led him to become associated with thieves and thievery. It occurred to me that time is also a thief, and that led to this little ditty.
My much-treasured Christmas present for 2017 is a book by Paul Anthony Jones: "The cabinet of linguistic curiosities". Each page contains a descriptive story about some obscure or archaic word. It occurred to me it would be a fun exercise to try and write, each day, a poem featuring the "word of the day" from the book.
Thanks for reading.
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