I Miss Sparta
Anuraag is a ‘Contributing Writer’ at The ArmChair Journal.
Official info- A student pursuing PhD in International Politics (IP), School of International Studies (SIS), Central University of Gujarat (CUG)
Unofficial ‘True’ intro -A Homo Sapien from Guwahati trying to jot down a few lines on history, politics, international relations and short stories. Sometimes likes to rant like a frustrated millenial of the climate change and n- COVID world.
I miss Sparta
Though born 750 years post the Magna Carta
Engulfed in the humdrum of Consumerist life
I long when sparkles from dories fly
Hopping for groceries on my old rusty car
How wonderful it would be to rein in Pegasus and fly off to adventures afar
Following the same old daily routine
What an experience it would be to fight wolves during the teens[1]
Sleepy and tired faces of globalization and corporatisation
Much better off facing Persian Immortals for the Spartan nation
The Manager says “Work extra in addition from 9 to 5”
Challenge him to a Spartan duel and make him cry
Slogging our lives away for the Fourth Industrial Revolution
Let’s make history in Thermopylae and set ballads in motion
Instagram crushes and fickle dates on Tinder
Let’s get our princesses by tearing down the heads of the Hydra asunder[2]
Stepping out for suited booted slavery with urban loneliness largely writ
Wish Gorgo could bid farewell saying “Come back with your shield or on it”
Thou may call me a naïve Luddite and a pantaloonish[3] Romantic
Whose idea of ages bygone is that of a thick headed myopic
Be that as it may if you so please
Much better than the Age of Modernity, Post- Modernity and the AI of Eris
Thou sorry dummies of Übermensch, thy strings pulled by the Market and Google Algorithms
Destined to either the depths of Tartarus or the meadows of Asphodel forever wandering
While in the realm of Morpheus, I with my Hoplon, Xiphos and Cuirass
Having etched my name on the soil of Plataea, the River Styx I am allowed to pass
Into the Garden of Elysium, where bliss forever lasts.
Author’s notes:
- Although historian and scholars have expressed doubts about the notion of Spartan teens being sent to fight wolves as a rite of passage being a later exaggeration, I have used the imagery here inspired by the scene from the 2006 movie 300 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcvITK38P_w).
- The reference to the battle between Hercules and Hydra is because of the popular Spartan belief that they were descendants of the legendary Greek Hero. (https://www.academia.edu/4121612/Heracles_and_the_Foundings_of_Sparta_and_Rome).
- Here I have used it in the sense of a ‘senile, old pantaloon wearing man’.
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