Aphrodite in The British Museum

Even if you gods, and all the goddesses too, should be looking on, yet would I be glad to sleep with golden Aphrodite ~ Homer

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

This is a sculpture of Aphrodite in the British Museum.

I have had the most miraculous of things happen... It is as if the Gods and Goddesses themselves on a boring afternoon decided to play with the lesser humans on earth.

Some time ago a Twitter account found me. @MyWordWizard tweets poetry prompts, a phrase, a few words and asks their followers to complete it in 140 characters. So late at night, I would find myself experimenting with images, metaphors and words in 140 characters. Soon I met a fellow Twitter poet @beachanny ...

Over time our Twitter friendship grew and we found ourselves in conversations about poets, poetry and, of course, beauty...

She's from Texas. I am originally from Oklahoma, but now make my home in a small, not very glamourous seaside English town...

A week or so ago, she came to visit my country of residence. A short trip, but we managed to meet at The British Museum for the Eqyptian Book of the Dead exhibit, lunch and afterwards a wander through what is one of the greatest museums in the world. It is impossible to visit The British Museum without visiting the Elgin Marbles.

So here is a photo of Aphrodite. The Goddess of Beauty who very kindly graced us with her presence while two friends who had never met forged a bond that will never be forgotten.

In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit. ~Albert Schweitzer

Most days I feel old
Too old for adventures
Yet, here I am
with my face alight
a bright shining star
Searching for heaven
in a smile, a thought

Through polished glass
Surrounded by the eager
and the bored alike
Reflections of the wisdom
and beauty of an ancient civilisation
shimmer on my cheeks, dance in my mind
and lodge firmly in my heart.

Could I have been
that Eqyptian Queen,
Preistess, Scribe
or perhaps even a God?

Could I expect to be anointed,
dressed in gold and lapis lazuli,
Red Jasper on a cord
lying against my once beating heart

For an afternoon I can...
~me