Hercules (Ras Algethi), by Dan Mitrut

Hercules (Ras Algethi)

by Dan Mitrut

Hercules had been fixed by nails
in the desert sky.
Then his masters startled:
there was something absent.
Hercules, the hero
with iron arms of some light years,
looked sadly at
the cold souls' helplessness.
He didn't need myths, statues, odes...
He had just an obsession:
the ephemeral unspoken word.
Hercules, the prisoner in the sky.

In the meantime, the masters
became interested in Tau Ceti,
and liberated the hero,
sanctioning:
Alpha of Hercules, the Kneeler's Head, Ras Algethi.

~ English translation from the Romanian by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe ~

Romanian lawyer and poet Dan Mitrut is the author of numerous works of astronomical poetry, folk music, photography, graphics, sculpture, and drama. A meteor observer included in the International Meteor Organization Data Base, he is a multiple laureate for the astronomical arts at the Cosmopoetry Festival of the Romanian Society for Meteors and Astronomy-SARM. He serves as the technical vice president of SARM and has authored original astro-folk music recitals performed at the EuRoEclipse Perseids 99 (Romania) and the IMO Conference 2000 (Romania).