3. My Father Was So Furious
My Father Was So Furious
on hearing Gaia’s words, he took me into his arms
and carried me away to the golden sands:
tiny quartz crystals that had developed
under the weather and wear of his oceans.
He walked with me for hours
until his favourite brother, Coeus,
God of Intellect, was sent to calm him
and bring us home. ‘Styx is loved by many,’
Coeus told him, ‘but no one
needs to be loved by all.
And our mother is still grieving.
She will love her too in time.’
Oceanus’s sea-green eyes stormed
and his long, sea-foam-white beard
trembled with anger as he spoke.
‘A child is no place to put misspent grief.’
My uncle studied the waves
of the ocean my father had so lovingly crafted
with his own two hands. ‘Gaia is a law
unto herself. You cannot change her.’
My father looked down at me
and kissed my forehead.
‘Perhaps not. But I can protect
my children from her influence.’
Perhaps my father had meant these words then.
Perhaps he did not know himself to be
the God that I have come to know him to be.
I would like to think he wanted to protect me.
I would like to think that he did not know
that some promises are an undoing
in and of themselves.
That they are not meant for even Gods to keep.