Oh gentle muses let me hear
Of the terrible tale of poor Cornis’s son
Who like his mother was so cruelly struck down
A mortal to bear the weight of Zeus and his frown
Born of Apollo and a mother now dead
Taught and raised by the mind of Chiron’s head
The wise old centaur educated dear Aesculapius
The ways of healing, from potions to herbs
So smart Aesculapius toiled with his lessons day by day
Practicing till he could make pain flee far away
He became like a god, powerful yet kind
And with his serpents, secrets he could find
But like all mortals, Aesculapius pushed too far
Down into the depths of all things dark and bizarre
For with the price of gold, and with powers too strong
Aesculapius rescued those lost in death for far too long
But Zeus despised this mortal’s deeds
For not even a god can defy what death decrees
So with a shimmering, terrible bolt in hand
Zeus struck Aesculapius, himself, into the unliving land
And all of humanity lamented, tearing out their hair
Even Apollo, for the loss of a son so wise and fair
Banned to an eternity of all that he had cured
Aesculapius bears the weight of all injustice endured
By Regina Maricich ‘29, Classics Editor
