Achlys Contemplates

Before Chaos
was I,
keening grief deeper than night
beating
in the dark heart of the universe.

Who will hear my tears
wailing
through the winds of time,
grieving for each wrong,
each loss
each wrong
every hurtful thing
that man or god or fate
can inflict?

My tears,
they fall useless -
all die
all fail -
one by one,
all come to me in the end.

And yet,
from my shadows I watch them,
their souls bright with hope,
each a small ray
of unquenchable light,
tiny motes of brilliance
flickering
against the endless night -
hope and grief,
the two truths
behind all the masks.

Ah Universe,
I will bear your pain
shoulder the burden,
keen my way until forever.
You bring forth your light,
brilliant,
eternal,
unquenchable,
and just maybe,
maybe,
the sorrow would have been worth it.


Note: Achlys was, according to some ancient cosmogonies, the eternal Night (perhaps the Mist of Death, which clouded the eyes of the dying), born even before Chaos. According to Hesiod, she was the personification of misery and sadness.