Medusa: The True Legend Remembered

Most of us know Medusa as a monster...but few recall how Poseidon's treatment had turned her hair to snakes.

They say her gaze led to stoned glaze--

But few remember what turned tresses to snakes,

Some truths live in silence--untold.

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A victim reframed, a woman spurned,

Truths buried beneath a temple burned

Thrown and bound, with marble gags

Voices echoed through the cracks

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I said "no" in stone, to them I cursed

Snake-bitten tongues and truths reversed

Stained altars, tears touch my feet

They left me all alone to weep

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Tendrils of steel, bloomed from tears

Snakes that protect a soul that fears

Through the mire, I grew in strength--

Grew sharp thorns, of undue length

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Look at me, if you dare to hear

My eyes speak cracked truths that heedless fear

I freeze them, as they deny

On mock pedestals, they lie

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Unspoken courage, crawling from within

Each silence broken, a painful hymn

Though my eyes stun, leave poor souls in shame

Marble mouths do fear my name --

Medusa.

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Do take a minute to listen to her here:

Original poem by Michelle Liew. AI tags are coincidental.

Based on the Greek myth of Medusa as recounted by Ovid.

For Vocal's Things You Can't Say Out Loud Challenge:

And Poppy's #13 prompt