Venus Poem by Mary Champion

I was the eight- pointed wandering star,
hidden in a mist-shrouded mystery.
My crystal pure light lit after sunset -
the Ev'ning Star climbing through the heavens,
preparing for the entrance of the Moon
whose silver light alone outshines my own.
Or I would appear before the sunrise
as the Morning Star heralding the dawn.

Many are the names men have given me:
reflecting the awe I inspired in them -
Lucifer and Vesper; the Golden Star;
Sacred Illumination of Heaven
Or Hesperus ordering the cosmos.
Aurora, watchful in the crimson dawn,
opening my doors and my rose-filled halls;
Divine Lady; Great Beacon of Progress.

Held sacred by the exalted Ishtar,
goddess of love and war, by Osiris,
by Aphrodite and by many more.
The first people of the Australias
awaited me in the hour before dawn,
for I drew behind me a rope of light
attached to the Earth and along this rope,
they could commune with their beloved dead.
For them I was a creator spirit
whose voice helped sing their land into being.

And all of this magnificence was mine
until Man, with his incessant questioning,
with his relentless and ruthless probing,
finally revealed my shameful secrets: -
the opaque unbreathable atmosphere,
the dense clouds of sulphuric acid,
along with the hellish temperatures.
Now, I am merely a broken Angel
lamenting the loss of the proud beauty
that enchanted so many for so long.