If love is a crime, her head will rest at the foot of the guillotine
If desire is wrong, her heart shall be ripped from her chest
If lust is unnatural, she shall be sunk back into the ocean

She dipped her feet into the waters on the docks
As she longingly watched the ships return to the land
The sailors back from adventures of somewhere grand

She watched as lovers embraced after months apart
She sighed with pride at her gift to humankind
Thought to herself, "Nothing is wrong, or am I blind?"

A shift in the wind, love in the air, and Aphrodite full of despair
Looked around with heavy eyes, searching for something wrong
Searching for the sin between the lovers lips and honeyed words

Aphrodite felt empty and cold, no love to warm her bones
She, the goddess of love, felt lonely and distanced from all
For she could simply see no wrong, no harm, no sin

**** her beauty, and **** their gazes
**** the gods for their judgement
**** them all for tainting love with lies

Her eyes saw only eternal springs in every sight
Her heart knew only compassion and nurturing
She had so much left inside of her to give
She gave it all to the man who had nothing left in him
He was lonely, castaway, feared, despised and hated
But Persephone had patience
She had a heart larger than the Underworld
Deeper than the river of Styx
And brighter than Mount Olympus
Her love was quicksand
And it swallowed him whole
One smile at a time
A woman so kind
Taken from home
Taken from familiarity
From a life of flowers and sunlight
Condemned to afterlife with a beating heart
She saw beyond herself, beyond her own situation
She filled the Underworld with color and warmth
Just as she did with it's ruler, one smile at a time

Pandora gave us many gifts
Disease, poverty, misery, sadness, death and all the evils of the world
All which gave humanity balance and morality
Without disease, poverty and death
We wouldn't know compassion, humility or cherishment
Without sadness and detestment
We wouldn't know happiness, excitement, longing or love
Without the evils in the world
We wouldn't know anything outside of ourselves
We would be selfish, lonely, sinful, greedy and gluttonous
Most important of Pandora's gifts, she gave us hope
Hope that touched the shadows of evil and healed the wounds of hate

We treat women who lie with our husbands like an army of Medusa's;
we blame the wrong person out of jealousy, envy, and heartbreak

It's not their fault they fell for the same lie as us
It's not their fault they are insecure or ignorant to the truth
It's not their fault our lovers didn't say no, that they couldn't resist and respect us

It's our fault for cursing the mistress
Damning her to turn everyone who looks her in the eyes into stone
Perpetually frozen in looks of horror and disgust
For something she didn't mean to do
For giving into desire

We are all Athena's
The ones who act on envy and rage
The ones who think we know it all
When all we know is the way to barbwire a heart

In the end, we are the ones to blame
For hurting someone already heartbroken
Penetrated by the same blade that stabbed us in the back
Only they were stabbed directly in the heart, the gut and the mind
They were forced to feel undeserved guilt and humiliation
For the faults of our own lovers

Don't blame the victims
Blame the cause
Blame the liars and the cheats
They are the real Medusa's in disguise; giving more to the temptations of beauty and desire rather than to the temples of love and respect

Artemis
my Lady
though she belongs to none
light of the Moon
frowning down upon
the empty land
and lowered mounts
the ten pointed Star
crowns her head
and comets string her bow
Her arrow pierces
the center of my forehead
and I am Made new
made eternal
until my blood
feeds the cereus
that blooms only
at Night