A Goddess In the Temple

Words to the Wise - Vol. 01.04

A Goddess in the Temple

What heart had I,
lay storm-shaken
beneath your temple,
in sacred supplication.

How often your victims fell
without waiting for the blow.
Bodies,
thrown out unburied-
as men fought with one another-
left none to mourn.

I raised my eyes to heaven
as thunder was heard,
a sign of a favorable disposition.
There it stood,
an oak,
wide-spreading branches;
with admiration,
the tree shook
and gave a rustling sound.
I trembled in every limb,
yet I kissed the earth and the tree.

Night came on,
and sleep took my dreams.
Covered with living,
moving creatures,
by and by to stand erect,
I awoke to whom, 
but a sweet vision.

A goddess in the temple.

Source Material: Bulfinch, Thomas. “Bulfinch’s Mythology: Stories of Gods and Heroes.”, Canterbury Classics, 2015, pp. 105 - 2024

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