Dearest Zeus

Written pre deletion day. January 2008. This is my take on a old story.

 

Dearest Zeus,

 

Almighty Zeus, son of Cronus, ruler of Mount Olympus, god of sky and thunder, Zeus the powerful, …… how foolish you are. You yield the power of the gods, but it took only a simple woman, a woman of your own creation, to bring your demise.

 

Pandora, made of flesh and blood, gifted with beauty by Hephaestus and born from your revenge, her road was to do your bidding, spread your wrath, but she failed.  To err is too human and there lies your mistake.

 

Your child, your slave, she did your bidding and released the jar of all evils on mankind.  Out of the jar in desperate torment flowed your evil henchmen of greed, vanity, slander, envy and pining.  Vengeful Zeus! Your plan has such an obvious flaw.  Your weakness? The simple instruction to leave hope temporarily inside ….. you didn’t tell Pandora for how long.

 

For many months Pandora wandered the earth, jar in hand with its single inhabitant, but as her days on earth grew so did her level of consciousness.   She could see the progression of man kind, feel his weakness and enjoy his strengths, and above all love.  She grew to love mankind; she was bore of flesh after all.  She learned of what she had done, how much punishment had been inflicted upon the world …. How this punishment was also inflicted on her, for she was human.

 

In despair and with heavy shoulders Pandora fled, she took your jar of evils and ran ran ran away from you, her master, her king, her god, her father!

 

Now she was not stupid, she knew eventually she would be found, but what she did do is buy us time.  When I say us, I mean us/we/humans/mankind.  She knew that there was enough evil in the world already, but she also knew that man would eventually overcome these evils; and that they would need a clear and strong mind if they were to overcome the last and most powerful evil of “hope”. 

 

You took her life eventually, but by then it was already too late, man had outgrown any expectations, poor Zeus (do you hear the mirth in my voice powerful one).  Before her death, the jar was passed on to another.  For sometime this man (a good man) carried his charge and fought the ugly onslaught of sin, but he was human born of Earth, not human born of heaven or blessed with Godly gifts.  Infected with greed and vanity the man opened Pandora’s jar (more familiar to us now as Pandora’s Box) and set free into the world was hope.

 

I bet you laughed.

 

But all the time hope was contained man had learned to live with your evils, he curbed his greed and forgot his vanity.  Better than that he learned to care for his fellow man, oh and he loved (there is that word again), he loved so very much.

 

Unwise Zeus, you wanted man to receive hope because it would prolongs man’s torment driving us in never-ending circles only to be kicked down again and again ….. but you underestimated humanity.  We learned, we grew, we adapted, and we evolved.  We eventually accepted hope (as we did all evils), hope is no longer tortment; hope is a wish, a prayer, a goodness that no-one can take away.  Your strongest weapon turned out to be our greatest emotion.

 

Foolish Zeus, you really should have thought this though, hope is the greatest gift mankind has ever received, and for this I thank you.

 

Regards

Faith

 

 

Reviews

[fireblossom]

Very well done. This peace uses the depth of myth to teach modern 'man'. I love it.

You are a fantastic writer sweetness.

I did find this edit. One you will find anyhow I know - she knew eventually she would be eventually be found,

All the best good writer friend.

[Nick Erickson]

I liked your version of the story, a jar instead of a box. I like the jar better, it's breakable, more fragile.
I really liked the flow and imagery, as for spelling, I suck so I can't even comment. Spell check is my god.
What I like about this poem is the fact that today, with human kind's "intelligence" (and I use that term loosely)... Zeus is dead and hope is alive. Zeus is dead because humans no longer have a need for him or believe. That is the only way to kill a god, unbelief.
Well written and maybe I'm looking too deep, but I liked it.

[Bubo]

I adore and love Greek mythology, can read it for hours and hours.........
A fantastic account of how we gained hope, how precious in the world hope is, the way you wrote this
had me rivited, like you were writing a private letter full of a wonderful ending............and Zeus who failed his mission.........great write, I hope you win the comp, you deserve it with your great descriptions and capturing the emotional content!

[Shane Patrick]

this was an easy read my friend... and a message of peace and hope, it is foolish that the antagonist was such a fool to think we would not overcome... again my friend I find myself enveloped by your candor and messages I love that you still find the time to write... it is inspiring and well versed... another powerful write my friend... well done