XXIV. TO HESTIA (5 lines)

(ll. 1-5) Hestia, you who tend the holy house of the lord Apollo,
the Far-shooter at goodly Pytho, with soft oil dripping ever from
your locks, come now into this house, come, having one mind with
Zeus the all-wise -- draw near, and withal bestow grace upon my
song.

XXVIII. TO ATHENA (18 lines)

(ll. 1-16) I begin to sing of Pallas Athene, the glorious
goddess, bright-eyed, inventive, unbending of heart, pure ******,
saviour of cities, courageous, Tritogeneia.  From his awful head
wise Zeus himself bare her arrayed in warlike arms of flashing
gold, and awe seized all the gods as they gazed.  But Athena
sprang quickly from the immortal head and stood before Zeus who
holds the aegis, shaking a sharp spear: great Olympus began to
reel horribly at the might of the bright-eyed goddess, and earth
round about cried fearfully, and the sea was moved and tossed
with dark waves, while foam burst forth suddenly: the bright Son
of Hyperion stopped his swift-footed horses a long while, until
the maiden Pallas Athene had stripped the heavenly armour from
her immortal shoulders.  And wise Zeus was glad.

(ll. 17-18) And so hail to you, daughter of Zeus who holds the
aegis!  Now I will remember you and another song as well.

XII. TO HERA (5 lines)

(ll. 1-5) I sing of golden-throned Hera whom Rhea bare.  Queen of
the immortals is she, surpassing all in beauty: she is the sister
and the wife of loud-thundering Zeus, -- the glorious one whom
all the blessed throughout high Olympus reverence and honour even
as Zeus who delights in thunder.

i always have
the urge to run.

but what is it like
to be a tree?

to be confident enough
to root yourself
and grow with
wild abandonment,
being unapologetically
you?

i'm still running,
but i wish i knew.

Wide awake, though I was sure I was going to slip into the dark of unconsciousness the moment I reached the mattress

Lying there, I listened to the sound of other people dreaming

My own mind wandering around today, tomorrow, and the unknown

I felt strangely calm, as if knowing somehow that everything I ever worried about, whether it happened or not, was purely irrelevant

Because, whatever tomorrow or the next day may bring, I know I will walk through whatever awaits me

I know I will face joy and pain and that we will laugh and cry and argue, just as we always have

My life is changing, but I will not desperately attempt to keep what is not mine

Some things and some people we are only borrowing for a while

I feel, in my heart, that this is not the end of my reality, just a reality

And I'm perfectly alright with that