What would you do after being chained
to a rock for 30,000 years?
Would you go straight home?
Some say Prometheus knew Jupiter's secrets
and could have used that knowledge
early on to gain his freedom.
But he would not sink so low.
He made his point exhaustively
and is remembered as a hero
not as he must have looked
staggering down Mt. Caucasus,
supported by Hercules,
the wound in his side still open
the shepherds’ fires far below.
I want Prometheus to go a little crazy,
not found the Golden Age of Shelley.
Let him stay in a bar for as long
as he wants, using up the matchbooks,
comforted by women who don't care
who he is. Then he might settle down
in an underground room,
far from the memory of eagles,
making his clay figures that come to life
when he breathes on them.
His fellow Titans would visit
from Tartarus on weekends.
They would embrace him, saying,
Take heart. We may be nature gods,
but we're all still here.
---Cynthia Anderson
Cynthia is a writer and poet who recently moved to the high desert from Santa Barbara. She's a member of the mythological roundtable. Check out poetry and photography. Or check out Cynthia's writing services. This painting of Prometheus is by Gustave Moreau.
