Worshiping Apollo,
She painted galaxies upon her skin.
Telling stores of years old kisses
resting deep within her marrow.
Her body, shaped with dirt and fireflies
was sutured together by birds with teeth-
A dark eyed oracle, whispering dead
blood languages in her sleep.
Dancing in fields of silk sheets
and disfigured fingerprints,
as she tried to forget
the perverse needs
of nothing more than
mortal men.
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AN: The name 'Pythia' derived from Pytho, which in myth was the original name of Delphi. The Greeks derived this place name from the verb, pythein (πύθειν, "to rot"), which refers to the decomposition of the body of the monstrous Python after she was slain by Apollo. The usual theory has been that the Pythia delivered oracles in a frenzied state induced by vapors rising from a chasm in the rock, and that she spoke gibberish which priests interpreted as the enigmatic prophecies preserved in Greek literature.
YOU ARE READING
Fire in the Blood
PoetryThere is a fire in your blood, my dear,—not even a thousand kisses deep could extinguish. One caress of golden flames will scorched the prints of many a frostbitten future.
