Page 204 of Styx

Each night I would watch Perses return home

long after Nyx had painted the sky dark.

He would bring his weary body to bed,

and I would soothe him in my arms.

‘They are stronger than we understood,’

he told me once tiredly.

‘Poseidon, he has powerful sway

over water and weapons alike.

Hera is stealthy and controls the birds

who inform her of our every movement.

Hestia seems kind, but her power over

fire can devastate whole forests.

Demeter can rot the world whenever

she wishes and turn it into a corpse.

And Hades. He is enthralled with death;

his hands are made for war and damage.’

After so many evenings of stories like this,

I was not surprised the day the messenger came

and told me Perses would

not return home that night.

Styx

THE RIVER OF THE DEAD PART VII

My Second Child Was Born as Ichor Fell from the Sky

Whereas my mother’s many children

had been born in peace,

some while the sun shone,

others during peaceful nights,

and a few during storms,

my second child was born

into a war. Her father was summoned