The Lyre

The lyre
Hermes gave
Apollo
He fashioned
From a tortoise shell.

 Once a water nymph
Who declined
An invitation
 To the wedding
Of Zeus and Hera,

This child who
Took lightly the life force
Became the instrument
Of angelic sound.

 When Apollo’s Golden hands
Touched those strings,
They sang the story
 Of water, Earth,
Air and light,

Made Apollo
God of music
And redeemer of a wild girl
Who would follow

The course of her own mind
But could not--
Or maybe did--
With Hermes’s help.