Diane Hine - Ballade: Legacy

Within a stalk of fennel hid,
Prometheus took fire for
some poor ancestral hominid,
infuriating Zeus in lore.
Our forbears lived by nature's law
and myth to truth is paradox,
yet when they cooked their food from raw,
they travelled paths unorthodox.

Zeus fashioned clay in counterbid,
first woman, cursed with moral flaw.
Pandora batted sweet eyelid,
Prometheus refused, wherefore
Zeus chained him, while an eagle tore
his liver flayed upon the rocks.
When Titan sought mankind's rapport,
he travelled paths unorthodox.

Zeus gave a jar and then forbid,
Pandora look into it's maw.
Of course, she peeked inside the lid
and helpless, watched the ills outpour.
Does hope remain for us in store?
the vessel, be it jar or box.
When prying led her to explore,
she travelled paths unorthodox.

Shall we live happy evermore?
our bodies shaped by boon and pox.
Will future beings add encore?
They travelled paths unorthodox.

Diane Hine

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