Pandora

 written today

Pandora

~ for L.

They formed you with divine hands

gave you that deceitful-lovely box

gently patted you on the shoulder

and set you on the wide way –

There was no way to foresee

it was all going to go

so horribly wrong

Nothing to tell you

the same hands

that gently smoothed the last errant curls

loaded these hellish horrors

inside such delicate elegance

and smiled as you left

the home of the gods

After the maelstrom

after the swirling darkness is over

after the thousand tears and stings

Get up.

No matter what else

the capricious fates may have intended

your name still means

All Gifts

All Good Things

Lift up that head

even though it hurts

even though your wounds

are fresh and raw

Dare to go back to that betrayer-box

look inside

Even in this darkened world

that tiny fragment cannot be extinguished

There at the bottom it sings

unconquerable

waiting for you

Reach down your hand

wrap those tired cold fingers

around that healing star

and claim Hope

as your own.