Artemis

Oh, can you hear that rumble?

The world is ending, yes, But I am not.

Cement turns to water, Life turns to ash. Those last embers disappear.

But I, oh, I won’t die as they do. Because I follow her.

I follow that girl, Who is half-silver, half-gold. She is terrifying, A goddess. But she protects me Not out of love, but duty.

I saw the last of my home,

Wrecked by hurricanes, Burnt by flames, Torn apart by quakes.

It’s all over now.

But I run after her, My Artemis. Whose gaze can turn stormy winds to none, Whose arrows can break apart worlds, And build them again.

She is force of nature, Goodness and darkness, all rolled in one, She is my anchor, my hope, And I love her, Though she will not love me back.

How many months has it been? Artemis’ light keeps me alive, I remember nothing of my past.

At night, she grows wings, Her skin pale, But her wings are raven-black, As she wreaks havoc for those mortals, Who were foolish enough to beg.

The moon is my power, she says to me, It is but an observer of Earth, But these humans do not understand, That the moon has scars too.

She says that the Greeks made her the goddess of the hunt, The Romans renamed her, reshaped her, But they did not understand, She was older, she was wiser.

As the last life on Earth winked away, She turned to me.

Bring back life, she ordered, And raise them better. Make them understand that nature is not a tool, It is something primordial,

And evil.

My Artemis smiled at me, one last time, And she dissolved into moonlight.

I dream of her still, Her silver tendrils of magic Under the trees, She is not gone, no, She simply waits, To show herself once more.