Prometheus

I came upon a man chained to a rock
I thought it was me but it was not

an eagle tore at his liver
and fire burned at his feet

this was no man
but the titan Prometheus.

The eagle gouged the beating organ from a ruptured pit
held it shuddering in its claws
and devoured it.

Prometheus reeled against his chains
flayed flesh twisting from his frame
blood spewing from his wounds.
His cries set thunder booming and lightning tore the sky.

My uncle was Cronus,
he cried,
who was the father of all gods
and my brother was Epimetheus
who was named for afterthought
as I was for forethought.

The predator beat its savage wings and took to the sky.

Cronus ate his children to alter destiny, Prometheus exclaimed,
but we sided with Zeus to free fate.

His wounds began to close,
the flesh of the gods healing itself
as the raptor returned to plunge its beak back in.

Epimetheus plundered fortune and failed,
the titan bellowed,
we were rewarded the creation of life on earth
but he forgot to give you strength.

I could taste his blood splattering across my lips
and fell to my knees,
the voice speaking through the flames penetrated so deeply
it felt as though it came from within.

He left you for last,
it said,
gave muscle and speed and cunning to beasts
and left man for last,
gave them agility and guile
and left you without protection.

The eagle tore into his abdomen
severing muscle as it gorged on entrails.

I gave you fire instead,
Prometheus roared,
and reason
and taught you to make tools.
But look what you have done with them.

I heard the liver rip from his eviscerated stomach
and saw the eagle swallow it for a second time.

This is my punishment,
he wept,
why have you forsaken me?

I knelt before him
traumatized by what I was witnessing:
here was a god suffering eternal torment
for rescuing man from destruction
weeping for the destruction man had wrought upon himself.

I felt his blood coagulating on my flesh
and in the mud it made around me.
He had sacrificed himself in vain.
What could I say?

You are our hero,
I whispered,
Epimetheus is our lot.

He slumped against the rock
and exhaled so heavily the earth trembled.

Your world is round,
I ventured,
but ours is flat
and we have fallen off the edge.

His eyes bore the burden of history and flooded with its pain
piercing the heartbreak of his regret to hold me in his gaze.

I can not speak for civilization, I said,
and still he held me in that gaze.

This is the moment a man breaks,
I thought,
when we see
that
the dream is lost
that
we are alone
that
this is it
there is no more

and yet

the moment of wonder
when we see
and go on nonetheless
when we face the void
and step off into it.

The carnivore circled above and cried for prey.

Let me take the burden from you,
I yelled over its bloodcurdling cries,
a battered race
we are
the abusers and the abused,
better battered though than beaten
and we are still here.

Let me take the fire from you,
I pleaded,
we misunderstood your purpose.

The titan stood to face his tormentor,
whole again
his wounds closed,
rising the full height of his magnificence
without ever removing me from his gaze.

Let go, Prometheus,
we will find our way.

A smile broke across his face
and he pushed the fire at his mighty feet in my direction
and I reached for it.

The eagle swooped and cried for blood
and I felt the fire burn as I gathered it to me,
saw my flesh blacken and blister and split,
smelled it scorching as I embraced it.

And I let go
and I became one with it
and I was freed.

Let go
a voice echoed even after I was gone,
why be punished because we care
and long to be cared for?

And he let go and man flourished.

And the eagle flew away.

And Prometheus was unbound.