Medusa Wept

As the breeze moves from the shores

It wraps me in a blanket of citrus and warmth

The sun is shining and the Great Sea is crashing

A blessed day to the Goddess everlasting

I walk to the Sea, collect water for my mistress

But as the droplets cover the path, I hear the hisses

Of the transformation of nothing into everything

As I enter the temple, on my back I feel the power strengthening

Surely in my home I am safe, Athena surrounds me

I have given my life to honor hers, but Poseidon shrouds thee

In his strength, his power, and his will

Not my body, my soul, or my fears can satiate his fill

He attacks and he takes all that he chooses

In the end I am the one that loses

Myself, my home, all that I’ve kept

I lay left on this altar, and it is there that I wept

I feel air churning around me, charged with anger

I have brought about dishonor and in my deep languor

There will be no saving my soul

For the gods have decided how I will pay my toll

Upon my beauty that was once fabled

Athena bestows my punishment which will only disable

My ability to live any sort of free life

I am to face eternity within my own strife

I have collected disappointment at the steps of my beloved

All my life I had spent so devoted

But now I am less than I could ever imagine

I am a monster, of my previous life but a fraction

Athena is disenchanted with all that I have done

For the shame I brought on her shrine I will forever be shunned

With these beasts upon my head, my place I will accept

From the confines of my lair, for myself I have wept

One by one they start to come in

As the lore of this monster slowly begins

To wind its way through what was once my home

But with my hideous curse they all turn to stone

I crave repentance, a chance to make up for what I have wrought

As these men come, though, I have always fought

For fear floods my veins and recreates every sentiment

I am no longer filled with love, but a vengeance that is vehement

This state becomes me, I am all that I should be

I am Medusa, I no longer plea

For safety, dignity, or my life

I can finally see how my power is rife

But every peak has its valley, every monster their champion

And Perseus comes to announce my sins again

A worthy adversary, who is far more adept

This time it is with fear that I wept

Through the chambers and corridors we slowly weave

My anger is growing and I begin to seethe

But is this the time I meet my final death

Or will it be Perseus to take the last breath?

The battle ensues, eventually he ensnares

I am left with nothing but my lethal stare

I hear his sword as it cuts through the shadow

I am left without body, I am sure I will soon go

I wait for death to become me, grateful for a final release

But in the end this, too, is just a tease

I am left but a head, even less than a freak

I am a weapon to take on the strong and the weak

Perseus wields me with no hope of relief

I am an agent of war, that somehow also feels grief

Across battles and bloodshed my head is now swept

I have nothing more to give, apart from the tears I have wept

Finally to a shrine with which I am acquainted

Back to the home I originally tainted

But this time, I am the offering, Perseus displays me as such

I am left for my Goddess, with barely a touch

I am beginning to fade, looking upon the life I have forged

I have nothing left to give but what’s left of my remorse

The afterlife is finally coming to retrieve what is left

There is not much here, I am entirely bereft

And then I am whole, prepared to be a maiden anew

But then slowly my creatures, they come into view

As they encircle my head, I can hear their whispers

I am still nothing but a Gorgon sister

My Goddess is coming, surely to entirely berate

The life I have offered her, she must surely hate

Once again, I have nothing to give, I am thoroughly unkept

By the time she arrives, I am drenched by the tears I have wept

“My Medusa, why the tears?” I am an abomination and I always will be, I fear

I hoped my original devotion would redeem me somehow

But it is clear that I am too far beyond your love, even now

“Look around Medusa, where have you come?”

To your shrine, again, oh wise one

“But this temple is unique, a place for the vulnerable”

Then why am I here, bringing with all my trouble

“These are the ones whom you’ve protected

The ones whose angry men you subjected

To a punishment worse than annihilation

Who had with violence, greater than a flirtation”

I looked upon the women I’ve saved

Whose men I have trapped within my ways

The realization finally crept

Through my body and my eyes, how they wept

For all the souls of women I harbored

When for even myself I could not be armored

But the violence against me transmuted

And in the end, was entirely uprooted

My form, it protected and conserved and defended

Beyond those Athena had even intended

Though she could not control every part of my fate

But I now can see her hand, both strong and great

I am surrounded by warmth once more

Finally, my freedom can truly soar

I am who I am, Medusa, protector

Of love and security, I am a collector

Now I am home, I can worship afresh

With Athena I am eternally enmeshed

Upon her shield, my face does reflect

But here, for my beauty, I have joyously wept