Hephaestus and Aphrodite Rewritten

Upon a mountain was a man

That every night looked down upon the sea,

And he would wish upon every star,

"Please bring a woman, a woman for me,

I don't want to be lonely."

The sea heard his cries

and foamed until it was a soothing bath,

Until there were legs, arms, a heart,

Hair golden and thin like lath,

That then walked the winding path.

In his lighthouse he dreamed,

Unbeknownst it to be true,

This dream walked to him

In colors of rich blue,

Whispering, "you wished for me didn't you?"

His eyes lit up with surprise to see her sitting on his living room floor,

She was nothing less than beautiful

And he knew loneliness no more

For she was all he could adore.

With porcelain skin softer than any silk or satin,

And crystal sapphires,

Bathed in endless, pearly white,

Inside his heart grew a fire,

That would not soon expire.

So he played for her the records of his youth,

Before there were cars and smartphones and flatscreen TVs,

And he showed her the photos of what the world was

And what it would never again be,

Because the world was filled with cruel fury.

He showed ger the days when people were happy,

And even those that were sad,

All just to put a smile on her face,

And to show her something she never had,

All the good and all the bad.

She thanked him not 

For she knew not how to appreciate a man,

That adorned her with sweet words

and all the love he possibly can.

Out of fear she ran.

He was not beautiful,

They both knew it to be so,

Crippled by the fall down the mountainside,

Hurt with a pain that only a God could know,

Cursed to suffer a thousand blows.

His hair white,

Skin tattered and torn,

with scars that went deeper than skin,

Wondering why he was ever born.

And if his death she would mourn.

He used his powers to craft her a shield,

To hide her away from the pain,

And he made for her a net,

To catch all the love that remain,

After his efforts were in vain

She dreamt of a younger man,

Who once wore his number on his back.

The high school dreamboat with chiseled features,

And the heart that he lacked

Set the man's flames aback.

But every night she returned to his bed,

Succumb to the temptation of the online dating scene,

Tucking her phone beneath her pillow,

She became cold, she became mean.

She was fire and ice with no in between. 

Who would choose the sad, ugly hermit,

He would ask of Zeus,

and he washed his body in tears.

Was it fate for him to lose,

Against the beautiful man's woos?

And under the facade of a clean Instagram page,

Was Aphrodite's trail of male heartbreak

Where every night she crept

In search of a man whose heart lonesome ached,

Buried behind security faked.

Hephaestus' heart beat no longer for her,

Rage overflowed his eyes with tears that burned,

what had love ever taught him,

Except that it breeds cruelty in return?

Is that the lesson meant to be learned?

In his heated passion, he built a trap,

Made from the net that once captured his love,

And in her adulterous crimes she was caught,

But it wasn't enough,

He wanted blood, bright, red and rough.

He shamed them,

And let the world know what they had done.

Some god of war?

Well this was a war that Hephaestus had won

And his winnings had only just begun.

Who was he to think he ever needed a woman's love?

They were all the same these days,

In the wicked ways they toyed,

In the wicked games they played,

In the wicked way their hearts never stayed.

It seemed too easy to saqy goodbye,

But he could not hold onto her and the lies she conceives,

So in the ocean he threw her once more.

There were plenty of fish in the sea,

But Aphrodite and Hephaestus were not meant to be.

He loved nevermore.

Too broken and too weak.

She was nothing he could ever adore,

And he knew loneliness forevermore.