Ariadne's Laments
PoetryIftekhar Ahmed
This poem is based on the Greek myth of Ariadne, a princess who helped the hero Theseus defeat the Minotaur and escape the Labyrinth. Apathetic to her love, he abandoned her at the island of Naxos. The poem expresses Ariadne's sorrow, anger and betrayal at being left by Theseus, and questions his love and loyalty for her.
Oh, Theseus! What would you do?
If love at first sight of mine wasn’t you,
And I never got dumb wit and stupid,
And never gave you sword and string,
And above all: never trusted you with my heart,
Would you have died inside the labyrinth?
What would you do without a sword?
When the minotaur came thundering on you,
So what! if you were physical strength,
So what! if you killed the pasiphae's son,
If I never gave you my red strings,
Would you have walked alive out of Daedalus's cage?
Let's say you walked out of the moving maze,
Never would have I sailed with you without love,
Never would have I believed promises of forever,
If I had known about your dead and decaying heart,
And if I had never held your accursed hand,
Would I have ended up on these lonely shores?
Oh, mighty Theseus! tell me something,
Had I ever had even an inch in your heart?
Had I ever truly owned your heart, if for a second?
or Was I just a means to your victory glory?
Disowned everything for you, so tell me Theseus,
If even for a day, did you truly love me for me?
Iftekhar Ahmed
If you ask a friend of Iftekar’s to describe him, the first word that will helplessly tumble out of their mouth is ‘poet’. The soft-spoken poet, who radiates positive vibes and wields excellent oratory skills, Iftekhar, is currently pursuing an undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering at IIT Tirupati. He is also a well-known badminton player who spends his spare time immersed in books and movies.