The Power of Poetry
“Lysander spared Athens from destruction, moved by the beauty of the chorus in Electra.” ~ Michael Schmidt, The First Poets, p. 416
A single chorus sung saved Athens from
Lysander’s havoc. “Level Athens,” urged
A Theban officer. “Let it succumb
To smoking devastation and be purged
So much that unshaved sheep will pasture there.”
But then the singer raised his voice and lyre.
Lysander was so moved he could not bear
To raze the city and to set the fire.
Still he commanded that the walls be made
As level as the death of every soul.
The ships should be destroyed as if the blade
Had scraped them clean away as if a scroll
Had been erased as with a hatchet cut.
The verse left Athens like a wall-ess hut.
