The Cyclops

With Apologies to Lewis Carroll, Part II (*//)

"'Twas ugly, and the slimy beast
Did scare us as we tried to pass."
All beckoned Zeus's son, with "Please,"
And, "Stop the beast at last."

"Beware the Cyclops, Herc, our friend!
The orb that probes, the mouth that chews!
Beware him, or, your life he'll end,
And you'll be ancient news!"

Herc slugged the giant, with club in hand;
For hours, he must have fought the beast.
And fin'lly down the cyclops did land--
His "life," it seemed, had ceased.

"I have no reason left to live,"
Lamented Cyclops. Then he said,
I only want to be their friends,
But they all want me dead."

"Why didn't you tell them this before?"
Herc asked. "Because they see this face...
...And spit and taunt me;" Herc said to him,
"Let me speak in your place."

"And hast thou slain the dread Cyclops?"
They asked Herc'les on his return.
"Of course not," answered Zeus's son,
He deserves our concern."

"He wants to help us, but, you fools!
You mock him; then to me you cry.
Don't judge the Cyclops by his looks.
He's good--he's our ally."

Don't judge me-- Cyclops-- by my looks,
My friends. Now I will tell you so--
We Cyclops, unlike Jabberwocks,
Are good, and kind, not foe.

*Dedicated to my fellow Cyclops--those who have felt different, left out, or put down because they don't fit in.

//Inspired by Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky"-- And loosely adapted from the
Hercules Cyclops episode.

Back to my fan fiction pages