Orpheus (What the Greeks Did Not Know)

By David Sklar

What the Greeks did not know about Orpheus
is that his younger brother
followed him into Hell,
rode behind him, unseen, on the ferry,
crept past the three-headed watchdog,
and listened in the shadows
in the Capital of Hell
when Orpheus said to the King of Death,
"I have come to claim Eurydice."

What the Greeks did not know about Orpheus
is that when King Hades explained
the way he could bring his love home
(to lead her out of the darkness
without turning to look at her face)
there hid in the shadows behind the singer
a child so suited to Death
that nobody noticed him there.

What the Greeks did not know is that
when Orpheus turned to look
at Eurydice, and the love in his eyes
melted the ground where she stood,
when she tumbled back into Hell
past the dry river, the three-headed dog,
and into the gates of the City,
a child in the shadows
picked her up in a fisherman's net
and started on his way.

What the Greeks did not know is that
when Orpheus stepped out of Death
wailing dirges to make the leaves fall off the trees,
a child, all of bone,
had crept past the dog, and was hiding himself
in the folds of the ferryman's cloak
so artfully even the ferryman didn't notice.

What the Greeks did not know is that
this child, all of bone,
succeeded where Orpheus failed
and carried Eurydice out of Hell
in a fishing net on his back,
and he carried her into the World,
where she cooked and she cleaned and she ironed his clothes
and he kept her, the rest of his life,
without turning to look at her face.

Originally published in Blue Light Red Light.