Mother of Athena (or, Metis and Cunning)
I. God
​
When I saw first saw him
He was a god among titans
Across the marble expanse
We locked eyes
My brother asked me
“What is so interesting
That has caught your attention?”
Without looking away
I answered
“My future”
“Are you sure that is wise?”
Prometheus asked
​
I laughed
I was helpless to do anything more
And as he approached
I felt like I had been struck by lightning
Like nothing else
Would ever matter this much
Prometheus grumbled
And wandered away
And then he was there
Zeus
Taking my hand in his
​
And so it began
​
II. King
There are many stories
About the war
Many tales
Of what came after
Each like a puzzle piece
Or a shard of glass
That comes together
To make a picture
And yet so many pieces have been lost
So many stories buried
Or forgotten
That the image remains
Unclear
​
He was a god king
My husband
Surrounded by his siblings
Backed by his brothers
He tore down the heavens
And remade them in his image
Striking like lightning
Against those who stood against him
Burning them in the light
Of his power
Meting out punishments
Sometimes for the crime
Of standing against him
Others for the crime
Of catching his eye
​
I knew
Of course I knew
Just like his next wife would know
But I also knew
Discretion is the better part of wisdom
And it was so easy to forget
In those moments
When he turned those lightning eyes on me
Just for a moment
But a moment is enough
To change a lifetime
​
And so it went
​
III. Father
​
Wisdom does not hope to know
What the future will bring
Wisdom simply prepares
And accepts what the Fates
Have in store for her
I accepted
Your father did not
​
Fear is a lesson
Learned only by those
Who must claw and fight
To take everything they have
Fear that someone else
Will have claws just that much sharper
Fight just that much harder
And they will take
Everything
​
A prophecy killed me
I knew the words
As soon as they were spoken
I knew my fate
As soon as he heard
But I knew, too, of the spark I carried
A spark I would not allow him
To put out
​
So I did what wisdom does best
I asked for advice
His mother answered with a story
A tale of her horror as she watched her husband
Swallow their children
A tale of her horror
As she watched them disgorged
And saw the madness in their eyes
​
She said it was still there
If you caught their eyes in the right light
Even in his
My Zeus
Perhaps that was what I saw
That first night
Across the room
​
“If he’d done it right”
Rhea confided
“He’d have integrated them
And become stronger
Than the sum of his parts
But he never asked me how it worked
He simply devoured
And assumed that was enough”
​
Power often assumes
That destruction is enough
To destroy is simply to wipe the slate clean,
To reset the scene for a new creation
Wisdom knows that creation
Is a force so much stronger than destruction
And that a spark
Once kindled
Is very hard to put out
​
And so it ended
​
IV. Devourer
He chose to devour me
As his father tried to devour him
He chose to devour me
Because I laid the groundwork
Slowly
Carefully
I knew my time was coming to a close
That wisdom could not save me
​
But I could save you
Dear one
And feed that spark in you
That creative impulse
I knew that you would turn
A spark into a flame
Into a bonfire so bright
It would blind anyone
Who looked too closely
​
So I laid the groundwork
And he devoured me
And as I became a part of him
So did you
Protected by my love
By my sacrifice
(By a series of ancient rituals
I learned from his mother)
​
And as I dissolved into lightning
I saw you rise
Beloved
And my only wish for you
Was that you would shine
​
And so you begin