Fear in Writing: A Valentine's Visitor

Today in Literary History

Today in Literary History...December 14, 1907: Rudyard Kipling receives the Nobel prize for literature, the first English-language writer to do so.ud

Sunday, February 14, 2010

A Valentine's Visitor

With a holiday made to worship my talents only days away, Michele asked me to stop by and give you some romance advice. Who am I to be giving advice on love, you ask (laughing heartily)? Maybe you envisioned a tiny naked child with wings, a bow and arrow?
I assure you I am all man, well a male god to be more precise (smirking). I am the son of Venus and Mercury, the goddess of love and the messenger god.
Don’t let mother’s title fool you. She isn’t always, how do you say it … charm and warmth. Oh yes, you females can be quite treacherous when it comes to love. Of course, we males can be too (winking). While mother is known for her jealousy, I do have to thank her for the love of my life, Psyche. It was her jealousy over the devotion Psyche’s subjects bestowed on her that caused her to order me to make Psyche fall in love with the vilest of creatures. Of, course, we all know I am more powerful than she because I also have dominion over the dead, the creatures, and of course the gods. SHHHH….they really don’t like it when I point that out.
My Psyche . . . she is quite the beauty. It’s no wonder they worship her. I fell in love the moment I laid eyes on her. Of course I couldn’t have her fall in love with another, but I knew I had to appease mother as well. So I went to her while she slept and made her fall in love with me in her dreams, but forbade her to look at me. AHHH such sweet torment I put us through. Then she had to go and listen to those hideous sisters of hers, who had convinced her I must be a monster. So she decided to gaze upon me to prove them wrong, after I told her she could not!! Well, of course I had to then punish her, so I left.
But not before dropping her in a field all alone, without harpy relatives for her to listen to. My devoted Psyche did not give up on me; she searched and searched until finally she stumbled into mother’s temple. Now you all know my mother, she knows how to charm, devious woman that she is. She gave Psyche many tests, all of which she passed easily. Would I be in love with someone not gifted? Please. Mother finally gave her one last task: Take a special box to Hades to steal some of Proserpine’s beauty and bring it back in the box. Of course, it was a trick. You have to watch out for mother-in-laws. When my darling opened the box, she was cursed with a deadly slumber from which I had to rescue her.

That’s when I knew I could never be apart from her again. We married and had a gorgeous daughter, Voluptas. Talk about giving a father nightmares! Never give your child the name for pleasure, because when she reaches her teens . . . well, that’s another story for another time.

The moral of my story, because you mortals love your morals, is that love truly does conquer all. It may bring joy, it may make you crazy; however, it will only allude you if you give up on it. True love does exist and sometimes you must fight for what you want,






PS. I don’t really shoot people with arrows. I have more clever and devious ways.

Happy Hunting Valentine's...

C. Carter Martina channeled Cupid today for Southern City Mysteries.  If you enjoyed her creativity, click on over to her blog, CC Chronicles.  Thank you, CC, for lending me this piece in honor of Valentine's Day!

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13 comments:

  1. Clever and devious indeed! :-) Awesome post!

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  2. Awesome!! What a great voice throughout the entire piece :)

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  3. Happy Valentines to all and everyone :)

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  4. LOL! I don’t really shoot people with arrows. I have more clever and devious ways.

    Michelle, I added you to my Blog Roll. Hopefully this will send a little traffic your way.

    Stephen Tremp

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  5. Great advice on love. And love those pics. Love Josephine Wall's work and I used the same cupid on my blog. ;)

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  6. Oh, I loved your retelling of Cupid and Psyche! Very witty. And, eh hemm, especially loved that second picture of Cupid...verrrrra nice. Loving that you put in the photo of Cupid and Psyche at the Louvre! I have that same photo but with my husband and I standing in front of it. Now I'm feeling all sentimental :)

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  7. And to you, Dez!

    Well thank you, Stephen.

    I thought so, too, Helen. I just had to have it from CC.

    Karen- She found beautiful art, didn't she? Sounds like both great minds think alike. ;)

    Carol-Awwww! Wonderful! Want to point out that C. Carter Martina put this together, not me! I wish I had a picture of me at the Louvre...Jealous! I think there's another god for that.

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  8. Wonderful! I love mythology. However, my vision of cupid will be forever marred by the version portrayed on "Supernatural" this last week (a huggy, pudgy, older man who is not incontinent and does not need diapers).

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  9. Thank you all for your wonderful comments. Hope to do more of these for other holidays.

    Thanks for reposting Michelle!

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  10. Ha! Nicely done, Cupid. Way to bring the snark to ancient mythology...

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