Paris And The Judgment Of The Fairest Poem by Gert Strydom

A golden apple came with light-footed Iris to me from above
with aninscription: "for the fairest" and I saw it as a gift of love,
I thought of giving it to the nymph Oenone as no one could my love remove

but here I am a Sheppard and a mortal man
and before me in great beauty are three goddesses
and judge them they all think that I can

where they are without their dresses
naked, slender, slim, with curves and breasts that delight.
Every one of them standing luring and enchanting in my sight

where they are eons old
but of such great beauty and charm
I have never been told

and with my decision will come no harm
while great things each do promise me:
Hera: the strongest ruler in the entire world to be,

Athena: that the legends would bare my military fame,
Aphrodite: that the most beautiful human woman would be my true love
and each did promise in Zeus's name.

I thought of giving all three of them each a go
but that would their true anger on me bestow
and from the loving of Oenone I was still aglow.

How to make this decision I did not really know
but there was something to Aphrodite that did my heart move
and to from the Greek king Menelaus remove

his beautiful wife Helen sounded like an adventure,
something to make Greek power a mockery
and her true love for me would be sure

and the romantic that I am, I chose the goddess Aphrodite
who later from a fight with Menelaus did protect me
but he sailed a thousand ships into war out of spite.