Aquarius

I wrote this as a gift for an Aquarius.

On the outskirts of Troy, a river did flow

And its banks sprouted fair Asteridae.

This river was called The Simoesis -

And it was born high up, on Mount Ida.

 

A rivergod fell for a nymph in the weeds

Off the banks where the whooping crane stalk.

Their daughter would be the mother of Tros,

A naiad they named Astyoche.

 

Further downstream it split and it branched

And it was there, in that watery sliver,

A beautiful nymph and a rivergod dwelled

In what was known as Scamander River.

 

Born in the swells, the eddies and swirls,

Her name meant “beautiful flow.”

A rivergod loved a water spirit,

Their daughter was named Callirrhoe.

 

A grandson of Zeus, Dardanian king,

Became the father of Tros.

Erichthonius married his Astyoche bride

Their bond, for each witness, was close.

 

Tros became known as the founder of Troy

And the fates would all have decreed -

That the union with his dear Callirrhoe

Delivered their son, Ganymede.

 

This Phrygian youth was a charming young man

And to all, there could be none fairer.

While tending his flocks, he was taken by Zeus

To serve gods, as their comely cupbearer.

 

He carried his jug and he poured them their wine

And he’d learn to become more gregarious.

They gave him, for his life of servitude,

To the sky, and the stars, as Aquarius.