Page 112 of Styx

‘do you think it is true?

That Kronos is devouring

his children?’ I gently held her hand.

‘I think it is true, beloved.

But you need not worry until

we are told by our parents.’

When the news finally came to us,

that Kronos had devoured

four of his children thus far,

Metis locked herself in her chambers

and wept and wept.

When Leto and I tried to comfort her,

all she sobbed was ‘Poor Rhea.’

To Be a Prophet in a Time of Danger

was to sense every movement

within my very bones.

As the voices in my head chattered,

I saw how everyone around me

began to act in stranger ways.

In Oceanus’s palace, when I visited,

where carefree laughter once resounded,

voices had become more hushed.

Oceanus himself was scarce in those days.

My father and his other Titan brothers

were frequently in his chambers

and River Gods prevented Styx or me

from entering, so we could not hear

what they were speaking of.

My father would come home

an exhaustion in his eyes,