KALLIKRETES
KALLIKRETES
cold marble floor
shredded drapes at the windows
dust and death, the only incense
silence is the choir.
alone is the feast.
doors stand open in shock
at the Temple defiled.
Only I remain.
My life fires now ash;
by my maidens, unattended.
with dust my make up,
fallen woman, I am,
defeated.
Yet
KALLIKRETES, my priest,
Have you too fallen?
Were you not enough strong?
Heeded you not my omens?
My words?
Aaaaahhhhh!
KALLIKRETES
Has Our dreaded enemy
vanquished thee also?
Kallikretes mine
Why had you not faith in Me?
Upright, I am lifted;
gentle hands, devoted care
dust away the dust.
Returned to my place, am I.
I look upon him,
his head bowed,
his heart bared.
I hear his silent cry.
Feel in my substance
his anguished hurt.
KALLIKRETES
YOU ARE WELL?
no answer echoes amidst emptied halls.
he wallows in his own Stygian abyss.
the flames of guilt of his own responsibility
lap at him;
torment his noble soul.
KALLIKRETES
Look upon Me.
My eyes, My eyes, so much have you witnessed;
My eyes, were you blind?
Or Blinded?
KALLIKRETES
laughter, as Zeus, on Olympus,
silenced in you
life, as Hermes in flight,
crippled in you
valour, as Achilles, in battle,
vanquished in you
nobility, as Hector, in dying,
buried in you
as Troy fell burning
as earth crumbled, trembling.
My priest. My warrior. My champion.
Be not a coward.
Be not so responsible to others
as to your self.
Thus, have I advised you
patiently.
I am served by the man
not the many.
KALLIKRETES
Our city razed.
Our people scattered.
Our future dissolved.
Serve you well, this other?
Are you satisfied?
Are you the man?
KALLIKRETES
KALLIKRETES
KALLIKRETES
Why had you no faith in Me?
KALLIKRETES
How did the battlements fall?
Where were the walls not strong enough?
Were you ill-advised?
Sought you not our generals?
Too proud, acted you upon your own?
As a man?
Your honour did you so cheaply sell?
Is that why I fell?
Because I honoured the man?
Does the other honour you more?
Not?
Slave
Serf
Yet,
You serve there so much better.
It has devolved
as I foresaw
in the waters and the smoke.
oh, Sybil, why were We not wrong?
KALLIKRETES
My priest
We have fallen
as the Fates have ordained.
Purge thy self no more.
Grovel not, before thy fallen goddess.
Branded and Banished
now I am.
Another has won.
Nay!
KALLIKRETES
Say not, I am wrong.
Weary mendacities and empty excuses;
Dishonour us no longer.
That other has won.
I am thus banished.
You, My priest,
You are lost.
KALLIKRETES
War, it was
War, it is.
a struggle for survival
a battle to live.
To live free as a man.
With Me, you were free.
You clothe yourself in other chains.
Heavily, they weigh upon your spirit.
Could I lighten them not?
Nay, My priest.
You have cast your lot.
KALLIKRETES
I respected you, My priest
believed in you, I, My priest
Kept you not Faith in Me.
Touch not this alabaster surface.
No warmth exudes from dying embers.
Cold now, with no faith,
I am no more.
Spectre. Shell. Statue.
Goddess of marble with her life fires all ashes
She lived only as long as her high priest believed in Her.
KALLIKRETES
KALLIKRETES
KALLIKRETES
Priest
Why had you no faith in Me?
KALLIKRETES
Man
Why had you more, no faith in You?
Cold marble floor
drapes shredded at the windows
dust and death, the only incense.
Silence is the choir
Decayed is the feast
Doors standing open in shock.
In this Temple defiled
Only I abide
Spectre in the shell of a once great man.
KALLIKRETES
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