By Jayati, 5th Grade
Phaeton, the son of Helios was teased
For no one believed
That he was the sun god's son.
So Phaeton went to his father’s palace
To get his promise that he was his father.
Helios said he was Phaeton’s father
And to prove it, he promised him anything.
Phaeton wanted to drive his father’s chariot across the sky
He pleaded with his father
Until he obtained permission to drive the chariot.
Helios was unhappy.
His promise he tried to avoid
Phaeton was filled with delight,
He wore his father’s crown of sunbeams,
And the salve to protect him from heat.
He listened not to his father’s instructions.
He was impatient to be away,
He believed that he could drive the chariot across the sky
But his unskillful hands lead the horses astray
The chariot veered away from its path.
The chariot approached the constellations
Who were warmed by the sunbeams
They woke up infuriated and
Lumbered about the heavens
The snake, the bear and the scorpion.
Phaeton dropped the reins
The fiery horses bounded everywhere
They crashed into the stars
And spread the fire on Earth
And the moon, skies, and all else.
Everyone tried to escape the fire
Mother Earth, set aflame, cried out to Jupiter,
“Hurl your lightning bolts and end this scorching death”
And then spoke no longer for she was being choked
By smoke and flames caused by Phaeton.
Hypnotized Jupiter was roused when he saw Mother Earth dying
He rolled thunder and lifted a colossal bolt of lightning
And flung it through the sky where it struck the chariot
Fire put out fire and flame put out flame
The horses leapt free.
Phaeton plummeted out of the sky
His hair was an inferno
Like a shooting star he looked
And fell into a river deceased
Away from his mother and home.
Helios did not drive his chariot
As he was mourning his son
Jupiter went to see him
He said mother earth needed Helios’s heat
And Helios sorrowfully drove across the sky.
Photo courtesy of Free-Clipart-Pictures.net.
