105. Tales From Across the World
Tales From Across the World
These circles were rich with folklore,
and they held such vibrant stories and songs.
Some of them were about the bloodshed,
but others were about happier times,
childhoods spent chasing the sun and
girlhoods spent dreaming in the moonlight.
There were other tales, too, of Goddesses
from the new ruling family of Olympians.
The fury of Hera but also her kindness
to women during childbirth.
The might of Athena but also her partiality
for heroes above all else.
I absorbed everything about this ruling family
of Gods from these women.
The Olympians were the reason why
my mother was now an island far away.
They were the reason why my father
and his brothers were trapped in Tartarus.
But the women also gave me stories of kings
and their queens, farmers and artists.
Their great loves and great conquests
all won and gone in the blink of an eye.
Everything seemed so much more finite
when you were mortal.
Everything ached more, hurt more.
If you are doomed from the start,
you learn to savour every drop of life
in ways immortals never can.