Circe

Based on Roman mythology, or more specifically a translation we had to do in Latin. Circe, the narrator, falls in love with a king, but he's married, so she changes him into a bird.

He was not so beautiful, as a man.  He had a waifish look, and I thought, without justification perhaps, that he was fragile.  His crown did not suit him.  It seemed to be reflected into infinity in his eyes, as if it was all that defined him.

 

She likes to speak as if I caged him.  Trapped him in a cell of wings and feathers.  Someday, I hope she’ll realize that the cage was one of gold.  Wings will never pretend or desire.  Wings will never make you anything but free.  She had kept him there, each kiss a reminder of his mortality.  I saved him.

 

He was beautiful as a bird.  The weight of life fell from him in the moments before.  I imagine that she will find it stained with my caresses, lying in the mud.  He flies with me, now.

 

 

Reviews

[Jean P. Prudhomme]

very good ... very

[Tzedeqiel]

Lovely. I too am a Latinist, but I don't think I'd ever heard this myth before. My only complaints (small ones) are that I think "waiflike" is the more usual word and I'm not entirely sure who "she" is. The king's wife?