Lysithea's Suffering

By: Greyda Posted on: September 29, 2005

The following four sonnets I discovered upon an excursion into the wilderness, tucked in a hollow at the base of a tree. Loose sheaves of paper for the most part, much was illegible, and scribbled with a primitive, blood-like ink (ironic considering the choice of a highly formal structure for the poetry itself). What I was able to read I copied, replacing the originals where I found them. While no author has signed these, nor are names given within the sonnets themselves, I believe them to be the personal writings of Lysithea, one of the seven offspring of Callisto and Sinope, the ancestors of the human race. I present them here with annotated references to support this conclusion.

Greyda Corten.

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An eerie sound has roused me from a slumber.
My love sleeps at my side in fitful dreams, (1)
Beplagued by chilling nightmares without number,
Would that restlessness I could appease.
My wild children lie amidst the furs, (2)
Curled in eachother's arms, they breathe as one,
Innocent yet fright'ning as they stir.
Such tender closeness cannot be undone.
I flee into the cool embrace of night,
Aching for my home, for family. (3)
My only comfort in the words I write:
The curse I bear for steadfast loyalty.
And yet I do not dare regret my choice, (4)
For woe is me the day I still my voice.

~ ~ ~

In this mirrored pool reflects a face,
A sister or a brother I discern,
With bitter accusations of disgrace
And treason, though I acted from concern. (5)
Or is this face my poor beloved mother?
The perfect woman, how could I compete? (6)
Her grace and beauty captive held my brother
Though reckless in the face of love's defeat. (7)
A substitute am I, for what was slain, (Cool
The road I travel has been harsh and rough.
But to a shred of hope I cling in vain:
That even displaced passion is enough.
I turn away, this visage is my own.
I can no longer walk this path alone.

~ ~ ~

What have I done to earn such punishment?
The Gods Themselves forsake me, I'll not bear
This suffering, lamentable torment,
I plead Them strike me down in my dispair!
My love lies dead, his throat cut in his sleep, (9)
And next to him a second corpse is slain:
The father to us both; and worse, I weep, (10)
My progeny this second murder claim. (11)
They call me traitor for the tears I shed,
And throw my father's body to the beasts.
Their vengeance brings them pride, and yet I dread
The days to come, what horrors are unleashed.
What agony, what terror more can come
'Til into utter madness I succumb?

~ ~ ~

For days I wandered with no sense of time,
Endless, sleepless nights passed like a dream,
And then, a Goddess whispered in my mind,
"Too long, My child, your suffering has been."
With hopeful tears I told Her my desire,
The boon was difficult, but not undue.
Two broken shards I hold She now requires (12)
While promising to render life anew. (13)
What other choice is there for me to make?
My life is over with my love deceased.
Blind? Perhaps, but now this chance I take,
Whatever happens, may my suffering cease.
A crystal warrior beckons, and I follow (14)
Perhaps to meet my love upon the morrow.

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(1) "My love" - Anake, Lysithea's brother and mate.
(2) "My wild children" - Rukal and Lakspura, the children of Anake and Lysithea.
(3) "Aching for my home" - Ceylon, from which Anake and Lysithea were exiles.
(4) "I do not dare regret my choice" - Lysithea chose to follow Anake into exile, rather than remain in Ceylon.
(5) "I acted from concern" - Lysithea spoke out on behalf of her brother when he was accused of treason.
(6) "The perfect woman" - Sinope, the first human female and thus the most perfect. Anake was in love with her.
(7) "reckless in the face of love's defeat" - Ired by her refusal of his advances, Anake murdered Sinope in cold blood.
(Cool "A substitute am I, for what was slain" - As mentioned previously, Lysithea later became Anake's mate.
(9) "his throat cut in his sleep" - Anake was slain in his sleep by Callisto, his father, in retribution for slaying Sinope.
(10) "a second corpse is slain: / The father to us both" - Callisto.
(11) "My progeny this second murder claim" - Rukal and Lakspura, after witnessing their father's death, together broke Callisto's neck.
(12) "Two broken shards I hold" - The Sceptre of Divinity was broken into seven pieces and distributed among the seven offspring. Upon Anake's death, Lysithea came into possesion of his.
(13) "While promising to render life anew" - The Goddess Lorielan approached Lysithea and claimed she could resurrect Anake but needed her pieces of the Sceptre to do so.
(14) "A crystal warrior beckons" - Lysithea was brought to Lorielan by one of her Kx'Khrah subjects. This was not a happy end for Lysithea, for as it turned out Lorielan had no intention of returning Anake to life; it was merely a trick to get Lysithea to relinquish her pieces of the Sceptre. Lysithea was then left stranded on the Crystal Plane.