Athena Poem by Deborah Harvey

Thunder rumbles in the electric sky.
Sonic booms ricocheting
among the puce and
oyster clouds.
Lightening, hurled by
my father’s arm.
Thunderbolts of fury
impale the earth.

My father…

From whose skull I sprung
fully armored.
Prepared for war.
Torn from a cloistered realm
of divine intellect.
Thrust into
this swamp
of human chaos.

The steady lamp of knowledge
fractured into random
flickering flames.
Patternless and formless…
Sinking in the bog.

I wander as a newly blind woman.
Unkindly stumbling in
a foreign place.
All that I once
took comfort in,
replaced by that
which is harsh
and devoid of security.

I search for a guiding hand
to navigate
the darkness.
Rekindle the dimming
lights ‘til they
burn as brightly
as those of
my prenatal world.

From my corporal depths,
the strength surges
with tsunamic force.
The fortitude of
my immortal inheritance
washing over me.
Renewing and
replenishing.

I relish the
thunder's tempo resonating
from the heavens…
Cherished crescendos.
I am my father's daughter,
and I am
well prepared
for war.