Salome
Salome, the unique daughter of Philip of Rome and Herodias,
Was the stepdaughter of the ruler of Galilee, Herod Antipas,
She wanted to find for her mother's problems a real solution
Therefore, she caused to St. John the Baptist a painful execution.
This saint had condemned the marriage of Herod Antipas
With the divorced wife of his half brother Philip, Herodias.
Herod imprisoned John, but feared this great prophet to kill,
Because to become King Herod the Great he had a goodwill.
Herodias was not mollified by great John's incarceration
And wanted to induce Antipas a great mental state of elation.
She pressed beautiful Salome to seduce him with her dance,
Thinking that her smart daughter his emotions could enhance.
Salome made him to promise to give her everything she wanted.
Dancing the 'Dance of the Seven Veils', her beautiful figure she flaunted.
Salome, thus, asked for the head of John the Baptist on a platter,
At her mother's behest, for whom nothing else could ever matter.
Herod did her bidding and that platter, to her mother, Salome brought.
Her mother won, this way, the John's head for saving her free thought.
Salome became a seductress of a stepfather and a murderer of a saint,
Herodias became a symbol of women, who can live without any constraint.
The Dance of the Seven Veils expresses the myth of the goddess Ishtar,
Also, the myth of the god Tammuz of Assyrian and Babylonian lore.
In this myth, Ishtar went in the underworld to visit Ereshkigal, her sister.
Ishtar passed through the seven gates and her power could glister.
At each gate, Ishtar had to shed an article of clothing, finally being nude.
Unleashing sixty diseases against her, Ereshkigal proved to be so rude.
Ishtar was imprisoned and all the sexual activity on earth ceased.
Papsukkal reported the situation to Ea, the king of the gods, at least.
Ea created the eunuch called Asu-shu-namir and sent him to Ereshkigal
To ask for the bag containing the waters of life, after Ishtar's last squeal.
She gave him this water and Asu-shu-namir sprinkled Ishtar, reviving her.
She came back and sent Tammuz to Ereshkigal, avoiding this story to recur.
Ishtar was associated with sexuality, her cult involved sacred prostitution,
Her city Uruk was the 'town of the sacred courtesans', place of persecution.
Although for the god Ishtar, love was fatal, she treated her passing lovers cruelly,
And the unhappy wretches, for the favors heaped on them, paid dearly.
Philip the Tetrarch was the son of Cleopatra of Jerusalem and Herod the Great.
He was the brother of Herod Antipas and Herod Archelaus, he had a good fate.
He inherited north father's kingdom and by Luke (3: 1) in the Bible he’s mentioned.
He married the daughter of Herodias and Philip of Rome, that Salome so tensioned.
poem by Marieta Maglas
Added by Poetry Lover
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