Oracle of Delphi

To be a prophetess of old

Marble shrines, 

Gilded with whispers of praise

Bangles on arms

And ankles and throat

Empty eyes staring at walls

Lips murmuring nonsense

“It’s a gift from the gods.”

Tell that to Cassandra

Cursed by Apollo 

Endowment turned liability

Tell that to every woman

Taken from her home, never to return

Sanity fractured

It is no mosaic of broken pieces

Tell that to us

Who see too much and

Understand too little

Every person blessed by the divine

Faces a life of struggles

It is no blessing, it is a downfall

This gift shows the end

Of the gods

And the reign of man

Destined, designed

By the Fates themselves