Poetry, the Encyclopedia:
Hesiod, St. Luke and St. Paul
About eight hundred years before the first
Of Christian poetry (Magnificat
And Paul on Charity) there came a burst
Of hatred from a crofter in a spat
Hesiod?
About his brother, verses filled with bile
For brother’s use of bribes because of greed,
Those bribes to curry favor with some vile
Patricians who decided to accede,
Corruptly, to the brother’s unjust claims.
So, family hatred, evil judges, high,
Yes, love, Divinity, its noblest aims,
And everything between, these are the why
And wherefores of the blasts of poets down
The ages, filled with joy, ache, thrills, woe, frown.