Every day I watched passively
as you walked new blood to this place
Where the conifer ushered them
like a guardian angel’s call
Where the streams flowed
akin to nectar’s creamy gold
And where the coves cradled all
as a parent would lull their child
They were warriors, doctors, heroes,
and yet children all the same
You taught them the lessons
that were born from the theft of fire,
a flame that grounded their feet
and set their hearts ablaze
And you knew better than everyone
that the heat would consume them,
as Cronus once did his sons
But still you held them in light’s warmth
knowing they would end up outlines
on the roads that they used to walk
That is the fate of every being
that ever cried its name to Olympus
Where the soil hid the bodies
that built the mountain up so tall
Where the grass drank their blood
as an engine would guzzle oil
Where the pathways lead them
to the rope of the gallows
Because every god knew
that fear was not enough to kill them
That every law, command, and threat
would have never stopped their advance
That the god of medicine
would have healed both living and dying
That the champion of their labors
would have served humanity over them
That the swift-fated prince
would have eaten the gods’ flesh raw
The very gods who became so bloated
from their drink of Ambrosia
that their egos burst from their bodies
and poured down their vainglorious mountain
Pulverizing all it encountered
like the pull of the endless void
Choking all who drew breath
like tar inside a dead man’s lungs
Burying all who stood against it
like a paper-thin veneer above secrets
And I saw your grip tighten
around those black-lined books,
and how your breath hitched
at the sight of their red-marked bodies
How the colors seemed to fill
every footprint that they walked,
and how you held that liquid
in your hands, on your heart
And perhaps you already knew
that they turned their gaze to you
Because you laid the foundation,
every stone, pebble, and log,
for the path your students trod
They branded you with more titles
than every martyr that ever lived
They burdened you with more
than Atlas could ever hope to carry
They used a single poisoned arrow
and tried to make you beg for death
But you gave up immortality long ago
and chose to be a Promethean fire
that would spark thousands more
The arrow that pierced your skin
pushed past your muscles and bones
Its faint hum became a gale
that sang of human spirit above all
So I will face every god that sleeps
atop that blinding white palace
and send them crashing down
further than the depths of Tartarus
Until they see every star in the sky
that they stole from this earth
and have their light burn
through their eyes as shooting stars
And one day I will walk new life
to this place, Mount Pelion
Until the Fates tear my strings,
I will remember you and all you were
as the constellations watching over me do
