literature

The Goddess of Ages

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I was little more than an infant the first time I was visited by a goddess. I remember it foggily, and with a certain fondness. She came in through the window in the early morning, before the sun had had the chance to chace away the dew that rested on the ground. Her hair was golden as the sun itself and littered with the chrysali of butterflies, and she had on her face a wide smile. Her eyes shone a bright green and she carried in her arms a young baby rabbit.
"I am the Goddess of Ages Yet to Come." She said reassuringly, her voice ringing like a symphony of wind chimes. "Look far ahead of you, for you have all that the world has to offer at the tips of your young fingers. I long for nothing, for I may have everything. The gift of time is mine to give and mine to own, and so I offer you this." She carefully reached into a pocket hidden in her long, flowing gown. From it she produced a golden chain followed by an equally brilliant stopwatch. She handed it to me. "Use your gift, as I may use mine. Think not of time, for this object renders time unimportant. Think only of the future, for it is the future that guides you toward your goals." She gave me a short smile, a twinkle in her glowing eye, and abruptly vanished. I looked on for several minutes, beaming with delight at my new gift of time and filled with the curiosity of youth.
Years later, after I had graduated from college and upon entering my first full-time job, I was visited again, in mid-afternoon. This time her hair did not shine as beautifully, her eyes were a pale blue, and she appeared altogether different from before.
"I am the Goddess of Ages Hidden." She said faintly. I noticed that she no longer carried the small animal in her arms. It had been replaced by a quill pen and a plain piece of parchment paper. Her hair was black now, and her robes had become muddied. "Look in all directions around you, for you must search for that which you have lost. Your purpose has concealed itself from you, but there is a faint hope in my heart, for there is but a small chance that you will find it yet." She reached again into her deep pocket, and this time pulled out a pair of di, carved from black stone and laiden with silver markings. "I offer you this boon, so that chance may grant you your meaning." I took the gift reluctantly, somewhat worried by what she had said. With that, she was gone.
I lived for a long time after that, following this path and that. I started a family of my own and watched those that I had loved pass away, turn to dust before my eyes. I took on a great many roles - father, lover, friend, business associate. Then, just recently, I was visited for a third and final time. This time the goddess appeared at midnight. I was lying in my bed, sick with fever and ridden with weakness in my old age. She stepped cautiously into the room, and this time she did not offer a smile. Her hair had turned white, and the shadows behind her took the shape of grey, stone buildings that crumbled at her every word, to be replaced by moss and overgrowth. She looked sadly at me with her grey eyes.
"I am the Goddess of Ages Long Forgotten. I am tormented with sadness, for no longer may I tred upon the lands that I once called my home." A moth flitted by her face and she blew meekly at it, sending it on its way. "Look behind you, for you will see all that which was overlooked, which never was, and which could never have been." A solumn tear fell from her pale skin and dropped to the floor beneath her. "I offer you one final gift in this hour. She reached into her pocket. From it she pulled a red rose, and held out her hand for me to take it. As I reached out, the rose begain to wither, its dry petals cracking away from its stem and sailing to the ground before I was able to touch it. The goddess began to sob, and I began to realize what I had done...and just then, as the goddess turned to walk away, I died.
This is the first work of prose poetry I have ever done. I'm not sure if I like it, but I like the idea. Actually, it makes me really, really depressed. I plan on doing a 3-piece watercolor series of the three goddesses...but God only KNOWS when that'll happen...
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ryuuta's avatar
I loved it. I guess I'm sucker for sad endings? And I'm sucker for things which have inner meaning ;)