Children are always told watered down stories. Growing up I heard the myth of Medusa. The story that I heard was that she was so vain that she was cursed by Athena, goddess of war, because she thought herself to be more beautiful. I guess that is a lesson for children to take with them, but as I grew into adulthood I started to come across different stories of why Medusa was turned into a Gorgon.
The video that I came across that caught my attention was where Medusa was raped by Poseidon, god of sea, inside of Athena’s temple. To let something like this happen was desecration to her temple and Medusa was blamed for what happened. She is considered damaged and unable to serve Athena because only virgins served the goddess. Medusa was cursed for her tragedy and I always thought that it was unfair.
Medusa did not ask to be desirable to all men and gods. No one asks to be born beautiful. Gods were known to take what they desired and she happened to the victim to that circumstance. It is a shame that this type of judgment remains today by some people in our society.
With this happening to her or any person I would assume that they would be in a place of loneliness, anger and resentment. No one else could possibly understand their feelings because it happened to that person. Here is my take of Medusa’s state of place.
Killer Looks
Admiring Ivory and Gold beauty
SHE is beautiful.
An honor to serve HER.
The Goddess of Inspiration
The Goddess of War
Tremors then…
The earth shakes. Stumbling I catch myself
I have fallen to the ground.
I cannot get up.
Like the speed of light
HE is on top of me. I cannot move.
Trembling rocks finally fall.
HIS power…the earth is shaking…I cannot move…
I fear that this temple will fall and crush me.
Why is this happening? Why HERE?
I cannot move. HIS power paralyzes me.
There is nothing I can do but…
I tried to explain.
SHE would not listen.
It was my fault SHE says.
Never question HER.
The earth shook and I fell.
HIS power…SO POWERFUL was all I could explain…
VANITY! SHE screams.
I played my vanity and it is me who did this SHE says.
Nothing more to say.
Nothing on his account.
It is all my fault.
Darkness around me.
The earth-shakes are in my mind over and over.
Light is fading but the pain is thriving.
My fault.
Sacrificed their daughter to be a priestess.
Mama and Papa are disappointed, this I know.
Will they be punished?
I have shamed my family and generations to come.
Please forgive me…
How can SHE not understand?
SHE is a woman.
Ownership of women like men.
In competition with HER peers.
Not a little understanding…
The Goddess of law and justice,
Damaged to HER I am now.
Personally taken my actions were.
I cannot understand these feelings.
I fell, paralyzed
The earth shook with every powerful force.
My fault….Vain SHE says
Beauty will not last forever.
Yours will swiftly fade.
At the edge you will reside.
Men will seek the world for you.
An award you are to be….
But no one will know your sketch
Your garden will grow statuses
That every man will attempt to bypass
Until the one most clever will set you free
The shards of light came in my sleep.
What is happening to me?
Flesh burning with freezing agony
It feels tight
I cannot breathe my mouth feels full
My flesh is cracking with white
Ash it seems to be. How can motion of it still be?
My scalp sears! Gasping for air I may not receive.
Searing…I cannot take the pain.
Bye, Bye Mama
Bye, Bye Papa
Please forgive me for how I shamed you.
I pray that SHE has mercy on you.
Darkness surrounds me.
Chills inside and out.
My flesh is cold.
Lightness shines ahead.
With a heavy head I move toward the light.
There is warmth in the light.
The closer I get the lighter my head becomes.
Relief is near.
The feeling of warmth while emerging
Hisses….
The weight lifting
Hisses….
Sun warming my skin to satisfaction
Hisses…..
From this stone hole
The greenery is beautiful.
It goes on forever
Until stopped by blue
Which goes on for eternity
Green, blue and me
Exist
To view the sun is a virtue.
The light, the warmth, my face
Opening my eyes and serpents are around me…
They are falling from the sky
Never to touch the earth
Surrounding me
Hisses….
Someone is screaming
SCREAMING…..
Realization
Serpents are death
Death is me.
My skin is searing.
The sun is burning my flesh.
Retrieving from the sun
From the warmth
From the light.
Relief on my skin
Heaviness on my head.
They come alive in the sun
In the warmth… In the light.
I am cold in the dark.
Lightness or darkness
I am dead.
HER curse.
Yes beauty is skin deep
But I did not request it
To be desired by men and gods
HE has multitudes of children
Unconsented.
HIS actions go unpunished
Unrecognized
The weight is a lot to bare
Every day I must reach the light for relief
Every day is the same
It is relief on my head
The come alive and surround me
Never to touch the earth
They are me and I am them
HER curse
With the hotness of my skin
The screams come.
It always take a while to realize that they are me.
Backing away back into the cold darkness.
He is here….
Rescue
Relief.
I can hear him walking
His armor shining
ANXIOUSLY! I go to him…
I look into his eyes and they are wide
He stops with step in mid air
I run to him.
Serpents raised, flesh searing
I reach him
A stone figure…A stone figure.
Was this a trick played by HER?
The agony of her defeat!
Hideous is my life
Abandoned in this place
What more could there be?!
Time after time they come.
I see them, they see me.
They stand still
As a stone figure.
A garden of heroes
A garden of warriors.
Time after time
Scream after scream.
Growing and growing
Of stone.
The chosen one will be here one day
He will rescue me from this death.
He will set me free.
Time after time I feel it is him
Time after time in error.
A garden grown innumerable.
They will not stop.
I scream for them to go back
But they still press on.
One look
So I stay back
I stay inside.
To be rescued and set free
Out of the cold.
The light will be relief on my skin.
Serpents are not surrounding me
Their language out of my head.
Heaviness no more…
What I hunger for the most.
Alone he emerges on the land.
The looks of a young boy
His character is not clear
Because his approach is astern.
Slowly he treads
While viewing the garden covered in green.
He stops and looks
Grasping his shield and sword
From which the light glimmers.
Does he think they are alive?
My protectors?
He is ready to fight at will.
I can smell the effort of his journey
It was a long one.
Something to prove?
Someone to honor?
He is almost at the end of his odyssey.
Just a few more steps into the darkness
Into the coldness of this world
To claim his reward.
At last he is near me
I can feel his warmth.
I emerge quietly as he continues reversed
Anxiety as he get closer
Because freedom is a blink away.
He quickly turns but I don’t get to look into my savior’s eyes.
In the blade I see the serpents surrounding
In the blade I see the face of ash
I hear the scream.
The video that I came across that caught my attention was where Medusa was raped by Poseidon, god of sea, inside of Athena’s temple. To let something like this happen was desecration to her temple and Medusa was blamed for what happened. She is considered damaged and unable to serve Athena because only virgins served the goddess. Medusa was cursed for her tragedy and I always thought that it was unfair.
Medusa did not ask to be desirable to all men and gods. No one asks to be born beautiful. Gods were known to take what they desired and she happened to the victim to that circumstance. It is a shame that this type of judgment remains today by some people in our society.
With this happening to her or any person I would assume that they would be in a place of loneliness, anger and resentment. No one else could possibly understand their feelings because it happened to that person. Here is my take of Medusa’s state of place.
Killer Looks
Admiring Ivory and Gold beauty
SHE is beautiful.
An honor to serve HER.
The Goddess of Inspiration
The Goddess of War
Tremors then…
The earth shakes. Stumbling I catch myself
I have fallen to the ground.
I cannot get up.
Like the speed of light
HE is on top of me. I cannot move.
Trembling rocks finally fall.
HIS power…the earth is shaking…I cannot move…
I fear that this temple will fall and crush me.
Why is this happening? Why HERE?
I cannot move. HIS power paralyzes me.
There is nothing I can do but…
I tried to explain.
SHE would not listen.
It was my fault SHE says.
Never question HER.
The earth shook and I fell.
HIS power…SO POWERFUL was all I could explain…
VANITY! SHE screams.
I played my vanity and it is me who did this SHE says.
Nothing more to say.
Nothing on his account.
It is all my fault.
Darkness around me.
The earth-shakes are in my mind over and over.
Light is fading but the pain is thriving.
My fault.
Sacrificed their daughter to be a priestess.
Mama and Papa are disappointed, this I know.
Will they be punished?
I have shamed my family and generations to come.
Please forgive me…
How can SHE not understand?
SHE is a woman.
Ownership of women like men.
In competition with HER peers.
Not a little understanding…
The Goddess of law and justice,
Damaged to HER I am now.
Personally taken my actions were.
I cannot understand these feelings.
I fell, paralyzed
The earth shook with every powerful force.
My fault….Vain SHE says
Beauty will not last forever.
Yours will swiftly fade.
At the edge you will reside.
Men will seek the world for you.
An award you are to be….
But no one will know your sketch
Your garden will grow statuses
That every man will attempt to bypass
Until the one most clever will set you free
The shards of light came in my sleep.
What is happening to me?
Flesh burning with freezing agony
It feels tight
I cannot breathe my mouth feels full
My flesh is cracking with white
Ash it seems to be. How can motion of it still be?
My scalp sears! Gasping for air I may not receive.
Searing…I cannot take the pain.
Bye, Bye Mama
Bye, Bye Papa
Please forgive me for how I shamed you.
I pray that SHE has mercy on you.
Darkness surrounds me.
Chills inside and out.
My flesh is cold.
Lightness shines ahead.
With a heavy head I move toward the light.
There is warmth in the light.
The closer I get the lighter my head becomes.
Relief is near.
The feeling of warmth while emerging
Hisses….
The weight lifting
Hisses….
Sun warming my skin to satisfaction
Hisses…..
From this stone hole
The greenery is beautiful.
It goes on forever
Until stopped by blue
Which goes on for eternity
Green, blue and me
Exist
To view the sun is a virtue.
The light, the warmth, my face
Opening my eyes and serpents are around me…
They are falling from the sky
Never to touch the earth
Surrounding me
Hisses….
Someone is screaming
SCREAMING…..
Realization
Serpents are death
Death is me.
My skin is searing.
The sun is burning my flesh.
Retrieving from the sun
From the warmth
From the light.
Relief on my skin
Heaviness on my head.
They come alive in the sun
In the warmth… In the light.
I am cold in the dark.
Lightness or darkness
I am dead.
HER curse.
Yes beauty is skin deep
But I did not request it
To be desired by men and gods
HE has multitudes of children
Unconsented.
HIS actions go unpunished
Unrecognized
The weight is a lot to bare
Every day I must reach the light for relief
Every day is the same
It is relief on my head
The come alive and surround me
Never to touch the earth
They are me and I am them
HER curse
With the hotness of my skin
The screams come.
It always take a while to realize that they are me.
Backing away back into the cold darkness.
He is here….
Rescue
Relief.
I can hear him walking
His armor shining
ANXIOUSLY! I go to him…
I look into his eyes and they are wide
He stops with step in mid air
I run to him.
Serpents raised, flesh searing
I reach him
A stone figure…A stone figure.
Was this a trick played by HER?
The agony of her defeat!
Hideous is my life
Abandoned in this place
What more could there be?!
Time after time they come.
I see them, they see me.
They stand still
As a stone figure.
A garden of heroes
A garden of warriors.
Time after time
Scream after scream.
Growing and growing
Of stone.
The chosen one will be here one day
He will rescue me from this death.
He will set me free.
Time after time I feel it is him
Time after time in error.
A garden grown innumerable.
They will not stop.
I scream for them to go back
But they still press on.
One look
So I stay back
I stay inside.
To be rescued and set free
Out of the cold.
The light will be relief on my skin.
Serpents are not surrounding me
Their language out of my head.
Heaviness no more…
What I hunger for the most.
Alone he emerges on the land.
The looks of a young boy
His character is not clear
Because his approach is astern.
Slowly he treads
While viewing the garden covered in green.
He stops and looks
Grasping his shield and sword
From which the light glimmers.
Does he think they are alive?
My protectors?
He is ready to fight at will.
I can smell the effort of his journey
It was a long one.
Something to prove?
Someone to honor?
He is almost at the end of his odyssey.
Just a few more steps into the darkness
Into the coldness of this world
To claim his reward.
At last he is near me
I can feel his warmth.
I emerge quietly as he continues reversed
Anxiety as he get closer
Because freedom is a blink away.
He quickly turns but I don’t get to look into my savior’s eyes.
In the blade I see the serpents surrounding
In the blade I see the face of ash
I hear the scream.