Heracles Poem by Stan Petrovich

He was a massive storm:
He was never meant for the norm;
His missions were simple:
Slay the Nemean Lion. Slay the nine-headed Lernaean Hydra. Capture the Golden Hind of Artemis. Capture the Erymanthian Boar. Clean the Augean stables in a single day. Slay the Stymphalian Birds. Capture the Cretan Bull. Steal the Mares of Diomedes. Obtain the girdle of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons. Obtain the cattle of the monster Geryon. Steal the apples of the Hesperides (He had the help of Atlas to pick them after Hercules had slain Ladon) . Capture and bring back Cerberus. (from Wikipedia)
But he ate the lion's gizzard;
He was quite the blizzard;
I was able to fight him,
But, oh, how I lost:
Into the frozen waters tossed.
Never again will I fight
Either hero or god:
They ground me under their iron-clad boots
Like sod.
Smitten with woe I beheld their glory undecided;
Hercules had won, had won uninvited.
Heracles was another name for him, at times, like Euripedes used
Instead, cloying, a forgotted muse;
All in the universe came together fused,
When I met him
It was not an occasional whim.
He towered
His eyes glowered.
Our hatred for each other flowered.
But hate only leads to defeat;
I lost, being the more hateful one, replete.
Those rocks on the shore were my watery grave;
Whose luck was a thing I will never stave.
Let us celebrate the coming of my death
As a thing happily brave.