Thursday 26 August 2010

Lord Byron Poetry Competition

Byron wrote one of his famous verses “Written After Swimming from Sestos to Abydos” in recognition of his swim and in praise of Hero’s nightly crossings to his beloved Leander (below).

See if you can do better than Byron to win some Falafel and Hummus. Entries should be submitted by 10th September via email or blog comment.

If, in the month of dark December,
Leander, who was nightly wont
(What maid will not the tale remember?)
To cross thy stream, broad Hellespont!
If, when the wintry tempest roared,
He sped to Hero, nothing loath,
And thus of old thy current poured,
Fair Venus! how I pity both!
For me, degenerate modern wretch,
Though in the genial month of May,
My dripping limbs I faintly stretch,
And think I’ve done a feat today.
But since he crossed the rapid tide,
According to the doubtful story,
To woo -and -Lord knows what beside,
And swam for Love, as I for Glory;
‘Twere hard to say who fared the best:
Sad mortals! thus the gods still plague you!
He lost his labour, I my jest;
For he was drowned, and I’ve the ague.
Lord Byron: 1810

(Ague: malaria or fever)

4 comments:

Pete Kennedy said...

When my belt at work sometimes starts tightening
I go to the park and round I run
But Rob takes on things far more frightening
And swims across seas like Lord Byron

He once swam from England to France
A distance quite simply preposterous
But in Greece he's now seizing his chance
To swim right on over the Bosphorous

Lord Byron fell ill with the lurgy
And shortly after was a goner
But Rob will just get out in Turkey
And go out and order a Doner

Then he'll go back on over the Hellespont
To get some more Greek kebabs in
Cos that's generally how he'll respond
And it's why he's not very thin.

sea swimmer said...

The sea between Europe and Turkey
Has oft been descripted as murky
But Rob's been spurred on
By good old Byron
To take on this challenge quite quirky

He'll be swimming from Europe to Asia
Can his challenges get any crazier?
He's done Manhatten Isle
And the Channel (most vile)
So really he's now getting lazier

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