Hera blinded the old man

when he said women

enjoyed sex more than men.

 

Zeus made the old man

a prophet, a gift to balance

his wife’s rage.

 

And Hera doubled her

daughters’ pleasure

on the lover’s couch—

 

her gift in a world where

sorrow and pain were

blamed on one woman’s folly.

 

She was curious, brave

when she opened

the forbidden box.  Every evil

 

flew out, but every good

now had a name.  She wasn’t

evil but deserved to be

 

celebrated, her daughters

dancing for a woman

not a God.

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WILLIAM “CHIP” MILLER is a poet and children’s author living in New Orleans. His poems have receently beeen accepted by Aji, Ank Sanh, Nebo, The Fredericksburg Literary Magazine, The Hollins Critic and Canyon Voices.